Nobody can prove that the majority of the country’s 40 million to 50 million citizens think that crime is spinning out of control
President Thabo Mbeki
South Africans believe government is failing to combat crime despite President Thabo Mbeki’s claim that crime is not spinning out of control.
A Markinor survey revealed today shows that South Africans are more critical of the government’s handling of crime now than they were a year ago.
"In fact, crime and unemployment are two of the critical delivery areas in which government has consistently achieved less than a pass mark over the years," Markinor Director and political analyst Mari Harris said in a statement.
Only four in every ten adult South Africans think the government does enough to reduce crime, according to a Markinor bi-annual government performance barometer conducted among 3,500 people in November 2006.
However, they do have a "relatively high level" of trust in the Scorpions and mostly agree with the way in which the elite team handles high-profile corruption investigations.
"But, when it comes to government’s crime fighting efforts in general, the survey shows a significant drop in confidence," said Harris.
A fifth of adult South Africans were of the opinion that the country was becoming less safe - among them a substantial number of African National Congress supporters, said Harris. While 44 percent of people surveyed in November 2005 rated their personal safety as improving, only 37 percent felt the same way in November 2006.
Although President Thabo Mbeki had acknowledged the negative impact of crime on the public, he had raised ire in suggesting that crime was not out of hand, she said.
On Monday, Mbeki told television interviewer Tim Modise that it was just a perception that crime was out of control.
"It’s not as if someone will walk here to the (television) studio in Auckland Park and get shot.
"That doesn’t happen and it won’t happen. Nobody can prove that the majority of the country’s 40 million to 50 million citizens think that crime is spinning out of control."
However, the survey showed that only four out 10 South Africans believed that the government was effectively reducing the crime rate "very well" or "fairly well".
"South Africans thus do not necessarily share the perception expressed by the president that crime is under control," said Harris.
Crime experts and victims have accused Mbeki of being out of touch with reality.
Institute for Security Studies senior researcher Johan Burger told the daily newspaper Beeld that Mbeki had shown he was not clued-up about the experiences of ordinary people.
Former Springbok rugby wing Gerrie Germishuys, who was recently attacked at his home in Northcliff, Johannesburg, said: "If the government’s armed bodyguards were taken away from them, they would realise how unsafe the country has become."
Burger said there were some positive indicators that crime was levelling off, but it had to be appreciated that this was from an extremely high level.
"If crime is not out of control, it is under control. And, it may be a bit early to say that," he said.
"One should not be duped by positive tendencies, because it does not make one any safer."
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