Crime is an ”illness” that affects all and makes the population live in fear, businessman and former premier of Mpumalanga Mathews Phosa said on Wednesday.
He was speaking at a symposium at the University of the Free State on the effect of serious crime and violent crime in South Africa.
”We are looking at a future serious illness if not treated correctly, call it crime or not,” Phosa told the attendees.
He said the current crime situation results in a traumatised society, public resources such as the police being under ”severe pressure” and a highly politicised and sometimes racial debate about crime.
Phosa, who said he was wearing no ”specific hat” at the symposium, said that the situation should be seen against the background of a young democracy within which the transformation of the security institutions had been complex.
”We have a government that understands the challenges that crime brings on all levels and we understand that crime has been politicised, and however wrong that is, it is the reality of the day.”
Phosa said a way to address the crime situation is to improve cooperation between institutions dealing with the matter.
He said the legal framework must be reconsidered to enable law-enforcement agencies to close loopholes used by criminals.
He also felt that ”more minds” in the private sector should be drawn into the crime-fighting family.
”We [also] have to engage in a non-partisan, non-racial approach to find solutions in the matter,” he said. — Sapa