Crime statistics are notoriously unreliable in South Africa. As South Africans we are aware that crime levels are unacceptable.
Crime is always aimed at soft targets. The big strong looking people rarely get mugged. The reason farmers are more likely to get attacked is because they are isolated and are surrounded by unemployed people in rural areas.
The fact that we have people like the author of "Dear white people" doesn't simplify the equation. It adds stress. The reason the people in rural areas will believe the so called statistics about wealth distribution is because in their communities the wealthy are few and far between.
In the cities we can see the leveled playing fields, We can observe the many many different people driving the luxury cars, going to their businesses, We can observe the lack of colour in business transactions, but in Bushbuck Ridge and Nkandla the only wealthy are the elite that roll in in their black gas guzzlers, say a few words, leaving the poverty stricken populace unchanged.
Melanie of the Pretoria small business chamber, Pretoria Web says "The majority of criminal acts are not those of professional criminals, They are the acts of the desperate, the hungry and the beaten."
Many people that last week were trying to start a micro business hawking vegetables or cheap chinese junk at robots, having been harassed and their stock confiscated by the police are forced by neccessity to steal a car radio, or a loaf of bread to feed their families."
The Government is always talking about job creation, yet they make small business a very hostile environment, despite Small business being the most prolific job creators in any economy. People with jobs rarely commit crimes. People that can feed their families have no need to beg or steal.
Supporting the local hawker and the local small business is a method of helping reduce crime in your own neighbourhood. The money you spend at a local business, unlike the nationals and multi nationals, is more likely to be spent in your community, creating a vibrant local economy and local job creation.
Support local small business, It's the right thing to do.
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