Crime & a poll

This is always the big topic of conversation in South Africa - it was when I lived here in 1998 and even more so now. The concern is that with the 2010 World Cup the country's reputation is being tarnished. But really whether the football comes here or not it's a major problem.
Mbeki and other top dogs including the police chief say crime isn't out of control and crime figures are down. But talk to any South African anywhere and they'll say the opposite.

A recent poll printed in today's paper has the following findings:
What South Africans think:
Crime going up: 81%
Crime dropping: 15%

and then
What S Africans feel:
Proud South African: 96%
Happy: 59%
Well: 61%
Unsafe: 75%
A failure: 6%
Depressed: 10%
Anxious: 6%

What S Africans have:
Work: 48%
Indoor water: 55%
No clean water: 6%
Flush toilet: 57%
Electricity: 88%

How S Africans live:
Households: 12.4 million
Houses: 9.4 million
Shacks: 1.3 million
Huts: 1.7 million

Education:
None: 12.5%
Primary: 10%
Matric: 27%
Diploma: 8%
Degree: 3%

It's believed that Mbeki doesn't want to open the can of worms labelled Crime because he's stepping down soon and it could be problematic for his successor and could lose precious votes. So instead people grumble and worry.

Cars

Some guys tried to steal my car yesterday afternoon - it was parked outside the guesthouse. Not big news and I'm glad that's all that happened. There are street guards all over the suburbs and one stopped them actually taking the car.
Then some big Boer in a 4x4 chased them as they sped off in their get away car - I'm not sure what he was hoping to achieve. When the police arrived they were very unimpressed because the Boer hadn't got a registration number.

I went to the police station and the Sergeant wrote out a statement by hand which I signed. I sat while he wrote and watched the policemen walking around with guns in their belts. On the way back he told me that the police station covers 13 suburbs and has 3 police cars to do it. And there I was being driven home.

So I'm marooned at the guesthouse until a replacement car can be delivered. The group will be taking down the exhibition today.