An anti-crime petition with an estimated 200 000 signatures and a memorandum demanding a crime-free and corruption-free South Africa were handed to officials by marchers in Johannesburg, Cape Town and Durban on Saturday.
”This is not the end-all and the be-all. We will use every avenue, including the Constitutional Court, to ensure that people’s rights are no longer violated,” said Shane Pillay, national coordinator of the South Africans against Crime campaign.
A petition and memorandum were handed to a mayoral official at Johannesburg mayor Amos Masondo’s office in Braamfontein by protesters who had marched from the Library Gardens.
”We are law-abiding citizens and feel that the president should be law-abiding and ensure that our grannies, children and everyone is safe,” said Steph Hartung of the Victims in the Republic of South Africa (Virsa), one of the march coordinators.
”The president has the money and the will to change the situation. People are suffering — how can people live like this?”
The petition called for the government to change ”its relaxed attitude towards crime”, said Pillay.
The 12-point memorandum included calls for the instilling and rekindling a sense of patriotism; looking at training facilities for police; more visible policing; and getting rid of corrupt policing.
Hartung said the march was prompted by the fact that he had been a victim of crime himself and that crime was becoming a problem.
Marches against crime were also held in Cape Town and Durban with the aim to collect three million signatures for a petition to hand to government.
In Cape Town, a petition and memorandum was handed to an official of the Department of Safety and Security at Parliament.
In Durban, a petition and memorandum was given to a police official after there was nobody to receive the documents at the Department of Safety and Security.
”I will support any crime march organised by anybody to fight crime as I am tired of crime,” said African Christian Democratic Party (ACDP) president Kenneth Meshoe, who joined protesters in Johannesburg.
”Crime is oppressing us as we can’t go where we want to go with our families.”
Most protesters in Johannesburg wore pink ribbons around their arms in solidarity with victims of crime.
Banners included words such as ”Mbeki wake up” and ”Beware criminals, South Africa is gatvol [fed up]” and T-shirts were worn with ”ABC, I’m Affected By Crime” and ”Crime Free South Africa”.
One elderly man held a placard that said: ”Aged 78 years, held at gunpoint”.
While walking to the mayor’s office from the CBD, protesters sang songs such as ”Phansi nge crime”, which means ”Down with crime”.
Hartung said the march was a success but it would have been great if there were more ”township” guys at the protest.
At the Johannesburg march, Miss Africa 2006 Gillian Elson said: ”I believe it is the responsibility of every South African to stand together and fight against crime in South Africa and to stand together to support initiative against crime.”
Virsa was established in November last year, but was formally launched in January.
It is part of the campaign South Africans Unite Against Crime, which describes itself as ”pro-government, anti-crime”. — Sapa