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'State must reduce crime'
20/01/2007 07:54 - (SA)
Johannesburg - South Africans are more critical of the government's handling of crime now than they were a year ago, a Markinor survey revealed on Friday.
"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," said Markinor director and political analyst Mari Harris.
Only four in every 10 adult South Africans think the government does enough to reduce crime, according to the 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 most agree with the way 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 (ANC) supporters, said Harris.
While 44% of people surveyed in November 2005 rated their personal safety as improving, only 37% 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.
Government effectively reducing crime
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 that he was not clued-up about the experiences of ordinary people.
- SAPA
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