Pursuing solutions, rather than calling for more police, prisons and harsher sentences, are needed when addressing the current crime wave, according to a report released on Wednesday.
The document — Building the Peace: A Kairos on Violent Crime — was drawn up by religious, political, business, academic and media leaders, and made public at a launch in Cape Town.
It sets out a broad intention to address the problem of violent crime in South Africa, says the office of Anglican archbishop Njongonkulu Ndungane.
”We need comprehensive measures to tackle violent crime, which pervades too much of both rural and urban life,” read the document.
Affirming the appropriateness of the criminal-justice system, it said vigilance is needed when new laws and policies are formulated.
The authors said criminals believe they can dominate vulnerable people, especially children, women and the elderly, with impunity.
”What is happening is unacceptable,” read the document, adding that vigilantism is not the answer and that the prevalence of firearms fuels violent crime.
It said South Africa is rooted in a ”culture of peace” and the time had come to build peaceful communities.
”We call on all leaders to join us in inspiring and re-energising the culture of peace that is latent among us.”
The authors said they believe that the strength and goodness of the human spirit will prevail, with crime diminishing this imbued sense of human dignity.
Perpetrators of violent crime should realise that an attack on an individual is an attack on the common and shared human dignity.
”Such a violation is aptly exemplified in our tradition of struggle by the dictum, ‘An injury to one is an injury to all’.”
The authors say tackling crime requires acknowledgement that numbers do not tell the whole story, and that the relationship between violent crime and poverty needs serious reflection.
”Though we stress that poverty cannot be used to excuse crime, and also that crime is not characteristic only of low-income communities, poverty does not translate directly into crime.
‘However, we must underline the fact that the reduction in overall poverty levels will, in the long run, reduce the amount of crime related to poverty.”
The document called on the nation to join in a partnership against crime in an endeavour to reclaim human dignity, common values and compassion. — Sapa