A chance to whine about crime

I guess I won’t be a true expat, if I don’t take this opportunity to have a rant about the latest crime stats in SA.

Firstly, the stats are terrible, horrendous, dreadful ... add any synonym you wish. South Africa is a dangerous place and sadly the poor suffers the most because of crime. It still boggles my mind that they keep electing officials that clearly doesn’t care. That is part of another discussion though.

For the people out there that say, "It isn’t so bad, people shouldn’t whine about the crime etc." Please tell that to the 36 000 + people that was raped this year according to statistics. Experts say that only about 1 in 9 rapes gets reported so nearly 300 000 women get raped a year. Also tell it to the families of the more than 18 000 people that were murdered last year. We should keep whining and complaining until the day South Africa has the lowest crime rate in the world. Then we can pat ourselves on the back and say well done.

The scary thing is that these are only crimes that was reported and made it to the stats. Thousands of crimes are being committed that are not being reported, or which the police simply don’t record. Things like attempted breaking and entering or small theft seldom gets reported.

When I was in SA a couple of months ago, there was an attempted break in at my brother in laws place in Stellenbosch. The police told them they can’t do anything. This statistic went unrecorded. Also a lady friend got mugged of her cell phone and wallet. The police told her to provide witnesses that this crime occurred, otherwise she may be lying. This also didn’t go into the statistics.

I really hope the government will tackle this problem head on and make South Africa safe for all people. Sexual and violent crime must be the number one priority at this stage.

White South African granted refugee states in Canada

31 Year old Brandon Huntly has been granted refugee status in Canada because of the "clear and convincing proof of the state's (south African government) inability or unwillingness to protect him."

This is the first time that a white South African has been granted refugee status in Canada on the basis that white people in SA are being persecuted by blacks.

Mr. Huntley was attacked seven times by black South Africans and was stabbed on 3 occasions. The attacks happened with attempted robberies and muggings.

During these attacks the black South Africans called him "a white dog" and "a settler."

This raises a few questions:
1.) Does this pave the way for future refugee claims?
2.) Are whites really under attack in SA?
3.) Is the Government actively turning a blind eye or are they just hopelessly bad?
4.) Is this decision justified?