While most of the country’s challenges — political uncertainty, a downturn in the economy and power failures — are manageable, crime has emerged as the one factor which consumers and businesses feel powerless to tackle. Anecdotal evidence suggests that violent house robberies are increasing.
Once again crime received a mention in this year’s State of the Nation address. But business isn’t happy.
“We are concerned that to date activity has not translated into meaningful results and a tangible reduction of crime,” said Mark Lamberti, chairperson of Business against Crime.
“The South African business community has been seriously affected by the unacceptable, sustained, high rate of crime. This ranges most seriously from the debilitating, demoralising effects of violent, personalised attacks on employees and customers of all socio-economic and demographic groups on the street, in their cars and homes, to the organised and random theft of billions of rands of company’s assets.”
Companies had to deal with trauma and skills depletion from death, injury or emigration as a result, and have had to invest abnormally in protecting people and assets, Lamberti said.
Security company ADT said South Africans have become more aware of crime in the past 18 months, with demand for security services increasing and an increased incidence of armed robberies. It said the overall number of alarm activations has increased, although much of this is due to false emergencies.
“It appears that there has been an increase in the number of armed robberies, and particularly driveway robberies, which occur when clients are most vulnerable, in the process of activating or deactivating their alarms while entering or leaving their premises,” the company said in a statement.
“ADT advises clients to be especially vigilant in the mornings when leaving for work, at lunchtime when bringing children home from school and in the evenings when returning home from work.”
According to official police statistics, most crime categories show a decrease. But certain subcategories of aggravated robbery, which does the most to shape public opinion, are on the up. These are crimes that tap into the archetypal “stranger danger”, with nightmares of gunmen entering our homes or businesses — the very places where we most need to feel safe.
Carjacking, house robberies and business robberies make up less than 2% of the total incidence of violent crime. While carjacking decreased slightly according to the latest crime trends, aggravated house robberies and business robberies have increased. They are also associated with violence including murder and rape, and are most likely to inspire terror.
Although crime in South Africa tends to be extremely violent, there is no evidence to suggest that levels of violence are increasing, said Dr Chris de Kock, from the South African Police Service’s crime information analysis centre. De Kock said that 105 cases of carjacking, house robberies and business robberies are reported every day, two or three of which will result in fatalities, and eight will involve rape. Some cases are extremely violent, but in most cases there is no rape or shooting, although he added that being held up at gunpoint is a violent and traumatising event in itself.
Most incidents of aggravated house robberies targeted cellphones (which were stolen in 70% of cases), cash and jewellery — all items usually carried on the victim’s person or kept in a safe. These provided perpetrators with immediate cash. By contrast, housebreaking — usually carried out when residents are sleeping or away — involved large items which have be sold before the proceeds of the crime are realised.
Aggravated business robberies tend to follow the same pattern as residential robberies. Most of the businesses targeted are small, often in residential areas, such as hair salons or spaza shops where robbers are after the accumulation of cash. They are hit by the same type of robbers — usually two or three perpetrators with at least one gun — and once again, cellphones, cash and jewellery are targeted.
Author Antony Altbeker said he felt people were more concerned about crime than previously.
“The mood in the country is bleak. The mood is reflective of the middle classes, who are much more concerned about crime. There’s a sense of despair. The spate of home robberies affects the mood much more dramatically than muggings do, although I’m not sure people buy the statistics any more. But the fact that home robberies are rising faster means that it almost doesn’t matter about the other crimes.
“My guess is that the level of violence has increased, and has been increasing for some time now,” Altbeker said.
The big three
In April to September last year, the last period for which statistics are available, 59 998 cases of robbery with aggravating circumstances were reported. This is an 8,8% drop compared with the same period the year before. Aggravated robbery levels had been constant since 2001.
But several crimes that fall under the category of aggravated robbery either showed marginal declines or had actually increased. Carjacking was down just 0,7%, with 7 214 cases reported between April and September. Truck hijacking was up 53,3%, with 598 cases reported over the same six months last year, with 390 cases for that period one year earlier.
Home robberies were up 7% on the previous year. Between April and September last year, 6 711 cases were reported, compared with 6 271 cases previously. By contrast, business robberies jumped 29,3%, with 4 438 cases in the same period and 3 433 cases previously.
At the same time, bank robberies dipped 11,7% with 53 cases reported compared with 60 cases previously. Cash in transit heists were down 26,7% with 206 cases from 281 cases. There was also a 7,5% decrease in cases of illegal possession of firearms and ammunition, with 6 649 cases reported against 7 185 previously.