/ 7 April 2004

Anti-crime groups support DA

The ministries of safety and security and justice appeared to be ”ministries of mayhem and anarchy”, a Mondeor resident who endorses the Democratic Alliance said on Wednesday.

The Alive Campaign and the Suid-Afrika Teen Misdaad-Aksiegroep (Satmag, the South Africa against Crime Action Group) came out in a show of support for the DA in Johannesburg.

Both organisations represent victims of crime.

Hugh Boxall, whose 28-year-old son was shot dead in Boksburg in June last year, said the police are not doing what they are supposed to do.

Alive Campaign leader Lynne Vince-Jillings said her support for the DA is not based on party politics. She will back any party that shows commitment to tackle crime.

”The DA is the only party that has attended all our campaigns and took a serious step against crime,” Vince-Jillings said.

Satmag’s Kobus Hermitafe, who is particularly concerned with farm killings, said South Africa has become a story of human tragedy.

Hermitafe said his organisation has encouraged all its members to throw their weight behind the DA because it is the only party that can decisively deal with the problem.

Addressing reporters at a press briefing, DA leader Tony Leon said the support shown by the two organisations is a commitment to turn their victimisation into positive action in fighting crime.

Leon said citizens and leaders endorse his party out of sincere conviction that it has the strongest record and policies to deal with the issue.

He said his party will not throw up its hands in despair, but can train and capacitate police to deal with crime effectively and deliver harsher sentences while setting up a fund for families of victims of violent crimes.

”Criminals use the most sophisticated technology while our police still use 19th-century technology and as a result confidence in the police has reached an all-time low,” Leon said.

He said crime is the biggest single impediment to investment, and is pushing skills out of the country. — Sapa

  • Special Report: Elections 2004