South African government ministers on Tuesday turned on citizens bemoaning rampant crime and fleeing a country where about 50 people are murdered every day.
”What we need is partners in the battle against crime, not these eloquent spectators speaking from exaggerated comfort … elsewhere,” Defence Minister Mosiuoa Lekota told Parliament.
He was responding, during debate on President Thabo Mbeki’s State of the Nation address last Friday, to opposition parties who cited various people who claim to have fled South Africa because of crime.
”We must avoid the temptation to evaluate the national progress on the basis of reactions by individuals who may be traumatised by personal tragedy or those who may be seeking justification for their action or inaction,” the minister said.
He said most crime victims were poor and black, and questioned the motivation for singling out ”the voice of some wealthy individual who can afford [to] take the whole family and leave this country”.
Lekota was equally critical of a black letter-writer ”who is sitting in the exaggerated comfort of European cities pointing a finger and saying how wrong this country is”.
”We are interested in the citizens of this country who want to sit here and … make South Africa a better place”.
Safety and Security Minister Charles Nqakula, who last year advised crime ”whingers” to leave the country, on Tuesday blamed violent crime on moral decay and social inequalities created by apartheid, suggesting ”wealth and skills transfers” were part of the solution.
Crime was an ”emotional matter”, Nqakula told MPs.
”While we must all agree that crime is a serious matter in South Africa, it is incumbent on all of us as leaders to be logical and rational in our response to the scourge.”
Opposition parties have criticised Mbeki for being too soft on crime in his address last week, and for failing to show empathy with citizens who feel beleaguered.
In the past financial year, the country of 47-million people recorded 18 528 murders, 54 926 rapes and 119 726 violent robberies.
Mbeki, who came under fire for insisting recently that most citizens did not feel crime was out of control, made some concessions in his address last week.
”We … cannot claim the happiness that comes with freedom if communities live in fear, closeted behind walls and barbed wire, ever anxious in their houses, on the streets and on our roads, unable freely to enjoy our public spaces,” he said in Parliament.
The president undertook to boost police levels to 180 000 by 2010, from just over 152 000 currently, as well as improve pay and working conditions.
Tony Leon, leader of the main opposition Democratic Alliance, dedicated his speech to the thousands who had fallen victim to violent crime and their families.
”The country is desperate for empathy; for a belief that the campaign against crime is fuelled by passion and steely-eyed determination,” he said.
”Our people want to see crime elevated to the top of the national agenda. The orgy of violent, sickening crime continues relentlessly.”
Independent Democrats leader Patricia de Lille called for a crime summit to explore ways of acting ”against the criminal minority that is holding our country hostage”.
African Christian Democratic Party leader Kenneth Meshoe warned about the impact of crime on South Africa hosting the 2010 Soccer World Cup.
”We want to warn the president that if violent crime is not drastically reduced, the privilege of hosting this prestigious event may slip through our fingers.” – Sapa-AFP