Violence

• Date: 01 January 1997
• Published date: 01 January 1997
• DOI: 10.10520/EJC34819
• Author: M. De Haas
• Pages: 300-322

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Violence

Mary de Haas *

Introduction

Violent crime of one type or another in South Africa received saturation media

coverage during this period, fuelling perceptions of impending anarchy.1

Thus, the predominant self-image of South Africa during the two year period

under review, which was relentlessly exploited by politicians, was that of a

dangerous, violence-wracked society. The print media sensationalised this

image further by false descriptions of South Africa as the reported rape capital

of the world and ‘probably the most murderous society on earth’.2 South

Africa was also said to have been inundated with organized crime syndicates,

192 of which were reportedly being monitored by the police. The fact that, as

Advocate Jennifer Wild cogently argues, organized crime syndicates had

been an integral component of the apartheid State, and had never been

dismantled, was conveniently overlooked.3

Given that violence levels have been high in South Africa for a number of

years, and the difficulties inherent in obtaining accurate statistics (especially

for crimes such as rape, which is notoriously under-reported), it is a moot

* B Soc Sci (Hons) M Soc Sci (Natal), Senior Lecturer, Department of Sociology,

University of Natal, Durban

1 ‘Anarchy looms as crime takes over’ New Nation 2 July 1997; Crime does pay in SA’

Daily News 28 July 1998;‘Heist suspects are former MK cadres’ Natal Witness 23

October 1997; ’10 serial killers at large’ Sowetan 4 August 1998; ‘Mob kills woman

for telling truth’ Sunday Times 27 December 1998; ‘Carnage in the classroom’

Sunday Tribune 22 November 1998; ‘Thugs threaten health care’ Natal Witness 11

September 1998; Human Rights Commission Report May 1998 p43; ‘Too many guns

threaten South Africa’ City Press 20 April 1997;.

2 ‘Crime does pay in SA’ Daily News 28 July 1998

3 ‘S A ripe for crime syndicates’ Daily News 14 September 1998; Wild’s thesis on

apartheid as an organized crime syndicate can be found at http:www.transcendental-

litigation.co.za

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point whether there was, in fact, any marked increase during 1997 and 1998. In

September 1997, for example, police maintained that despite the actual

numbers of crimes committed having increased during the first six months of

the year, ‘ratios pertaining to the 20 most serious crimes have decreased or

stabilised’; i.e. there were fewer murders and armed robberies in the first six

months of 1997 as compared with the equivalent period in 1996.4 Similarly, a

Nedcor Project report released in July 1998 noted that ‘of the 20 most serious

crime categories reported nationally [during the first three months of that

year] six have decreased and 12 have stabilised’5 There were, however,

regional variations, with serious crime such as murder and armed robbery

having reportedly increased by 7,2% in KwaZuluNatal in 1998, relative to

1997.6

Official crime statistics reported in December 1998, showed that for the year

violent crimes, ie. the ‘top 20’ category such as murder and armed robbery,

decreased by 25%. This fact is also attested to in another chapter of this

issue. Comparable and independently reported figures for the same crime

categories during 1998 in the USA showed that violent crimes decreased only

2-5% (one city, New York, managed 7% - just ahead of mayoral elections) with

a national average of only 4% decline. This was hailed as a major achievement

unequalled in the previous 20 years. In England, Scotland Yard reported

murder statistics, which averaged more than 20per day, nationwide. This is in

contrast with South Africa in the same period where, even at the height of

political violence and multiple killings in the Richmond area of KwaZuluNatal,

the national average was 7-8 per day.

Regardless of whether there were more or fewer of specific types of crimes,

Dr Chris de Kock of the police’s Crime Information Management Centre

conceded, towards the end of 1998, that crime was becoming increasingly

violent and brutal.7 Whilst other countries in the throes of democratisation,

such as the former Soviet Union, were also grappling with escalating crime,

patterns of violence spawned by apartheid continued to leave indelible marks

on post-1994 South Africa.

Protest action around political, educational and industrial issues frequently

assumed violent overtones. For example, four people died and at least 200

were injured in rates protests in the ‘coloured’ area of Eldorado Park, Gauteng,

in February 1997, and in June of that year a father and child were burnt to

death in conflict surrounding the issue of whether or not Bushbuckridge in

4 ‘More crimes but fewer serious ones, say police’ Business Day 10 September 1997.

5 ‘Crime does pay in SA’ Daily News 28 July 1998.

6 ‘Serious crime on the increase in KZN’ Daily News 15 February 1999.

7 ‘Family slaying underlines crime stats’ Mercury 4 November 1998.