The right to be afraid
It is quite ironic that while the Advertiser is running a series of articles in association with MRR on the rights of the country's citizens that a crime report from the United Nations (UN) once again reminds us of how our Constitution, especially the Bill of Rights, is a joke.
With the elections staring at us with a manic grin, and so many political promises floating around as hollow as cheap Easter eggs, the sad news is that there is little sanctity when it comes to our rights.
According the UN Office of Drugs and Crime, South Africa ranks 10th in a report that analyses the intentional homicides of about 437 000 people around the world for 2012.
According to this report, SA has 30.1 homicides per 100 000.
Honduras has the world’s highest murder rate, with 90.4 homicides recorded. The reasons for Honduras’s dramatic and consistent rise in violence in recent years has been placed squarely on the shoulders of the Mexican cartels.
So much then for the tourism trade in Honduras.
Other countries sandwiched in between Honduras and SA in order of having homicidal tendencies are Venezuela, Belize, El Salvador, Guatemala, Jamaica, Swaziland, Saint Kitts and Nevis.
Yes, some of us have probably just spilled some coffee out of shock that Swaziland it appears is quite a murderous place.
To be fair, with any statistics you will encounter problems. In this report, we have to keep in mind that rarely does any country keep track of true crime figures (which is also the case of SA), while we also have to keep in mind that South Africa for example has a far larger population than Swaziland.
Yet, no matter if we deem this report as nonsense, the world media has taken note of it, and yes, we have made the headlines for all the wrong reasons. Thank goodness this report was not published before the 2010 Soccer World Cup.
Most of the countries that are in the top 10 are from South America, which is understandable – they are notorious for the being the territory of druglords and cartels.
It was also found according to the report that in the Americas, homicide rates have been five to eight times higher than those of Europe and Asia since the mid-1950s, describing the phenomenon as “the legacy of decades of political and crime-related violence.”
And for those who thought the Caribbean was a peaceful place with rum and good Reggae music, well think again. Bob Marley’s song about shooting the sheriff takes on a strange new dimension.
What is rather disconcerting is that Colombia, well-known for being a home of notorious druglords, rates just below us.
So while we have the usual suspects on the list, SA, therefore, stands out like a sore thumb.
Sure, we struggle with drugs like most countries, but what is frightening is our high murder rate does not come down to thriving drug cartels or extreme gang violence, except in places like Reiger Park.
On these shores, people are killed for no reason, or they are murdered for menial material gain. One’s life is not in danger for being part of a gang, but your life means less than a bug on the car’s windscreen, because you are in the way of criminals who places no value on life.
We are therefore, worse off than all the countries of South America. Homicides in SA are senseless, cold and brutal.
I wonder if someone in our government takes note of such statistics, and if someone in tourism considers what an impact this could have on our country where the average citizen, and especially our beloved rhinos, have without a doubt no right to life or dignity.
Somewhere in the world someone must have read the report and decided to cancel their trip to the Rainbow Nation, just in case they end up as another homicide statistic.
The UN’s report comes in the wake of the Oscar Pistorius trial, where the world has been privy to an apparent SA culture of violence and love for guns.
To underline the validity of the UN’s report, recently a weekend of birthday celebrations at an idyllic Free State farm resort ended in horror for a Durban couple, when they were murdered as they slept.
Again, another senseless slaying. We will not even talk about the spate of killings throughout Boksburg, including Reiger and Windmill Park, where people are gunned down without remorse or guilt.
While the economy should be the forefront of the election promises, our right to life and to dignity should receive far greater attention from the politicians. Or do the politicians only care about the vote instead of saving a life?
It is, therefore, no wonder that it seems fewer people will be voting on May 7, because what is being promised is not the reality on the streets.
Has the government forgotten it is its duty to uphold the Constitution and to ensure its citizens enjoy their rights, especially one to life?
Judging by the high rate of murder, abuse and rape, it seems our Bill of Rights might as well be written on toilet paper and flushed away.
By the way, for those interested, safest place right now is Japan – if you can handle Sushi.
