'Crime a crisis, not a problem'

2006-10-01 07:26

Johannesburg - Crime is a crisis and not just a problem, and the African National Congress (ANC) should pay attention to it, said the Sunday Times in a front-page editorial.

The newspaper said ANC leaders, getting together next weekend for their regular National Executive Committee (NEC) meeting, needed to put the country's out-of-control crime situation on their agenda.

The newspaper, in its unusual front-page editorial, said "the ruling party and the government it controls merely see crime as a problem, not the crisis that it is.

"Like the proverbial ostrich, they refuse to accept that this country is under siege from criminals. They seem to believe that it is a problem affecting pampered whingers in Sandton, Durban North and Claremont, forgetting that the residents of places like Tembisa, Manenberg and Clermont are as much at the receiving end."

Crime stats 'horrendous'

The newspaper called the crime statistics for the past year "horrendous", with nearly 19 000 people murdered, nearly 55 000 raped and almost 120 000 violent robberies, and said the government's response was a gross dereliction of duty.

"This newspaper would like to suggest that, in-between the mandatory back-stabbing sessions at this weekend's gathering, the ANC's high-ups reserve some time for an in-depth discussion on this crisis.

"If they do not do so, it will confirm our worst fears: that they do not care."

Forensics

On the same page, the Sunday Times reported that thousands of criminal cases were collapsing because the work on forensic evidence linking criminals to cases was not being done.

It reported that 427 319 cases remained unsolved, many due to the lack of forensic work. These included 183 988 murders, attempted murders, rapes and assaults from April 2005 to March 2006.

Forensic specialists at laboratories in Cape Town and Johannesburg told the newspaper that the main reason for the backlog was that two machines, worth almost R100m, could not be used due to lack of staff and skills.

Police Commissioner Jackie Selebi denied that the forensics crisis was behind the unsolved cases, saying the machines were "working like a bomb" and that some of the machines not in use were old.

- SAPA