The Soweto suburb of Meadowlands suffers more murders and twice as many burglaries as Johannesburg’s flatland, Hillbrow, research by the Institute of Security Studies has shown.
Researcher Patrick Burton said that, overall, there was more violent crime in the Johannesburg inner city than in Meadowlands, but that if the trend continued the position would soon be reversed.
Meadowlands was chosen for the 2002 research because it is one of the few townships without an informal settlement attached to it, and the population has been fairly stable, with most residents having been in the area for at least five years.
The research looked at the perceptions of the community regarding the levels of crime — and then looked at the actual incidence of crime.
Burton found that in Meadowlands the murder rate is higher than in Hillbrow — an area generally accepted as the heartland of Johannesburg’s crime. The burglary rate is double that of Hillbrow.
According to Burton, the study significantly points an accusing finger at local residents, contradicting the perception that foreigners are mainly responsible for crime. The research asks whether police are targeting the right offenders. “In Meadowlands,” the researcher said, “the police have prioritised car hijacking, although the survey shows this to be a comparatively negligible crime problem.”
Another surprise finding of the research is that those who had reported a crime to a police station were happy with the service they got from the police personnel behind the counter. The people who believed that the police were not doing a good job were those who had not engaged with the police.
This does not necessarily mean that cases were always solved, but that complainants left the station aware of what the next step would be, had a case number, or knew who to contact for further information.
In fact, said Burton, “the reporting rate is remarkably low. In general, more violent crimes are reported, but many would not report robberies. More than being a comment on the police, this indicated an acceptance of robbery as a daily event.”
He said there was no correlation between goods being insured and the rate of reporting.
According to the research, most of the Meadowlands residents interviewed (between 95% and 98%) believed that crime was perpetrated by local young, unemployed people.
The same youngsters bore the brunt of crime, however. They were usually unable to recover from the crime or to afford medical treatment if they were assaulted.
“There is a perception that crime is perpetrated by non-South Africans. We did not find this in Meadowlands. People believed that it was the people of Meadowlands, sometimes working for a [crime] syndicate from outside Meadowlands,” said Burton.
The Meadowlands police were probably more successful than their colleagues elsewhere, said Burton, because they engaged with their communities. “They do not see the community policing forum as the only way of interacting with the community. They go to schools, churches and youth organisations,” said Burton.
Burton stressed that the findings would not necessarily be replicated in other townships, but some of the conclusions would apply elsewhere.
When it comes to crime-fighting, said Burton, police are often hampered by matters beyond their control.
“For example,” said Burton, “at the Dube Hostel there is long grass and hardly any lighting. It is not a safe place for the people of Meadowlands to walk. Even the police fear for their lives when attending to crimes or patrolling the area. The police do not have enough flashlights, so it is a very difficult area to police effectively.”
He added that local government functions such as putting up street names and lights and cutting long grass could help to make areas easier to police.
The police should also put more personnel on to the streets, rather than leaving them to do administrative work, he said.