While President Thabo Mbeki recognised the crime problem in his State of the Nation address on Friday, it contained nothing to ”make the criminals quake in their boots”.
This is according to Janine Myburgh, president of the Cape Town Regional Chamber of Commerce and Industry. She said in a statement following the speech that the high cost of crime is not fully appreciated.
”The cost of private security services, sophisticated alarm systems and increased insurance premiums are built into the price of every product purchased by rich and poor alike.”
Crime retards economic growth and job creation. ”The recent survey by Grant Thornton showed that 88% of companies had to fund increased security costs, while 65% said crime decreased productivity and motivation.
”A further 41% said the burden of crime decreased creativity and resourcefulness, and an alarming 32% of companies surveyed said they had lost staff to crime, while 18% said they had lost customers.”
Myburgh stressed this undermines South Africa’s competitiveness and is bad for economic growth and job creation.
”Unfortunately there was nothing in the State of the Nation address to make the criminals quake in their boots or make them worry about their chosen careers. The chamber would have welcomed a new offensive, as simply improving the present efforts of the criminal justice system may not be enough.”
Myburgh welcomed the open door for continued cooperation between business and law-enforcement agencies, but felt a more aggressive approach may be necessary.
”We should look at suggestions like getting law graduates to do a year’s community service to bolster the courts and police stations in the same way as medical graduates work in the clinics and hospitals,” she said.
Mbeki missed an opportunity to acknowledge that crime is the country’s single most serious crisis, AfriForum said on Friday.
”The president should have made crime the central theme of his address and should have taken the public into his confidence about the threat which crime poses for the country,” said AfriForum CEO Kallie Kriel.
Even though steps against crime were mentioned, this was old news, he said. As an example, he said that increasing the number of police officers had already been announced in the mini-budget of last year.
AfriForum will step up its Stop the Murders campaign in order to increase pressure on the government so it complies with its constitutional duty regarding crime prevention.
Apart from the nearly 30 000 letters that the public have sent to the president via its website regarding crime, AfriForum will soon announce actions that will ensure the government will not be able to deny the crime crisis any longer, Kriel said. — Sapa