causes of crime in south africa essay

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In This Article Expand or collapse the "in this article" section Crime and Justice in South Africa

Introduction, general overviews.

• Governmental Resources
• History of Crime and Justice
• Crime and Security in Transitional Contexts
• Crime and South African Criminology
• Crime Trends
• Gender and Violence
• Recent Policies
• Key Debates
• Forms and Functions of Privatization
• Anticrime Vigilantism
• New Perspectives on Crime, Safety, and Justice

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Crime and Justice in South Africa by Elrena Van der Spuy LAST REVIEWED: 11 October 2018 LAST MODIFIED: 23 May 2012 DOI: 10.1093/obo/9780195396607-0041

Issues relating to crime and justice have come to occupy a central place in post-apartheid South Africa. On the one hand, crime is a source of political division and social discontent. On the other, participation in the criminal economy provides a source of income to many, and social and capital accumulation to some. Much of the national anxiety relates to violent forms of predatory crime. In recent years there has been growing concern about the corrosive effects of economic crime, systematic pilferage, and corruption—both within public and private institutions. There has been no shortage of conversation about the underlying causes of crime or of the most appropriate strategies to contain structural and individual factors that push individuals toward crime. An explosion of alternative sources of crime data and research-based policy have been compiled since the 1990s. Victim crime surveys have brought to light experiences of criminal victimization and trends in reporting, as well as the public perceptions of insecurity and state inefficacy. The search for bold strategic interventions and suitable policy responses continues. Policy has oscillated between punitive law-and-order approaches to more developmentally oriented crime prevention measures. The concern with modernizing and democratizing criminal justice institutions in line with the constitutional imperatives of the rule of law—so characteristic a feature during the first phase of reform—has given way to equally pressing demands for effectiveness and efficacy. Scholarship on crime and justice in South Africa has broadened. Comparative inquiries, for example, have contributed to our understanding of the South African experience. From a comparative point of view, South Africa constitutes one variation on a wider structural theme confronting many transitional democracies in the developing world. Historical analyses continue to remind us of the structural continuities between the old and new South Africa. At a more conceptual level, there have been concerted attempts at theorizing the future of South African access to safety and justice, based on innovative sharing of responsibilities by a wide range of actors around common objectives. Scholarship on the topic has thickened and deepened in ways that are increasingly interdisciplinary, conceptually challenging, and empirically grounded.

Two recent texts ( Altbeker 2007 , Steinberg 2008 ) by two widely acclaimed commentators on South African crime and justice provide engaging views into the dilemmas confronting the regulation of social order in democratic South Africa. The analysis of the Mbeki presidency in Pottinger 2008 includes an informative chapter on the politics of crime. The most up-to-date and composite review of crime and safety trends, with detailed references, can be found in South Africa Survey 2009/2010 ( South African Institute of Race Relations 2010 ). Holtmann 2008 captures the way in which the conversations about safety and developmental interventions have evolved over time.

Altbeker, Antony. 2007. A country at war with itself : South Africa’s crisis of crime . Johannesburg, South Africa: Jonathan Ball.

A provocative engagement with popular conceptions concerning the causes of crime, a critique of the state’s response, and an argument in support of rethinking the strategy toward crime. Widely read and much debated.

Holtmann, Barbara. 2008. Why law enforcement is not enough: Lessons from the Central Karoo on breaking the cycle of crime and violence . SA Crime Quarterly 23:13–20.

An innovative discussion on the life cycle of violence in South Africa and recommendations for holistic policy interventions.

Pottinger, Brian. 2008. The Mbeki legacy . Cape Town, South Africa: Zebra.

An authoritative analysis of the Mbeki presidency, with an informative chapter on crime policies.

South African Institute of Race Relations. 2010. South Africa Survey 2009/2010 . Johannesburg, South Africa: South African Institute of Race Relations.

A comprehensive review of trends in crime and an overview of key government institutions. Also contains references to major sources. Available online for purchase or by subscription.

Steinberg, Jonny. 2008. Thin blue: The unwritten rules of policing in South Africa . Johannesburg, South Africa, and Cape Town, South Africa: Jonathan Ball.

A well-known South African writer engages with the dilemmas confronting South Africa’s police on the streets, in the absence of a shared social contract.

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Reducing violent crime in South Africa

South Africa’s Police Minister Bheki Cele and National Commissioner Khehla Sitole recently announced a new “high density stabilisation intervention” to tackle crime. The strategy focuses on cash-in-transit heists, car hijackings, murder, house robberies, and gang and taxi violence.

It includes the deployment of desk-based police officials to the streets, particularly in “identified hotspots”, while dedicated detectives track and arrest suspects wanted for both organised and repeat violent crimes.

The strategy comes on the back of a multi-year rise in aggravated robbery, and a recent spike in robberies targeting cash-carrying armoured vans . It has already resulted in key arrests , and should thus be celebrated.

But, more than 90% of violent crimes recorded each year fall outside the categories named in the strategy.

To significantly reduce violence and harm in South Africa, the police should expand the strategy in three ways: (1) focus on murder hot spots, (2) tackle domestic violence effectively, and (3) implement targeted and evidence-based interventions.

Tackling murder

First, for the police service to improve public safety most effectively, it should focus a significant amount of its resources on reducing murder. Murder is the most reliable crime statistic and the best proxy for violence more broadly. Where murder is common, so is other violence. Murder and associated types of violence affect far more people , and cause far more harm than car hijackings, house robberies or cash-in-transit heists.

A significant amount of murders in South Africa is predictable, so police should be able to reduce it. For example, in 2015/16, 78% of murders occurred in just four provinces - KwaZulu-Natal, Gauteng, Eastern Cape and Western Cape. In the most recent crime statistics, 2% of police stations recorded 20% of all murders in the country, and 13% recorded 50% of murders.

Within these precincts it’s almost certain that violence and murder are clustered in hot spots known to local police. Targeting these could significantly reduce murder and other violence.

Many murders are also committed during predictable time periods, specifically over weekends. In 2017 the SAPS reported that most murders (66%) in the Western Cape province occurred from Friday to Sunday, with 56% occurring between 6pm and 3am. Similarly, in 2016 half of murders nationwide occurred on Saturday and Sunday, with 70% taking place between 6pm and 8am.

Murder and violence are also often linked to alcohol. A 2016 analysis of murder dockets found that in up to 48% of murders, the victim or perpetrator was intoxicated.

Based on this information, one can estimate that around a third of all murders in South Africa occur over weekends, in predictable hotspots, in roughly 100 police precincts, in four provinces. If focused police and socio-economic interventions could halve weekend murders in these areas, the national murder count could be reduced by as much as 15% in just a few years and by far more in a decade.

Instead, murder has increased by 22% since 2012. What’s more, by focusing on murder, police will almost certainly reduce other violent crime in the same targeted areas, significantly reducing overall harm.

The World Health Organisation and numerous violence experts believe the global murder rate can be halved in 30 years in part by adopting just these kinds of targeted interventions. South African police can and must be part of this, and wherever possible, should do so in parallel with complimentary interventions by other government departments, business and civil society stakeholders.

Combating domestic violence

The second adjustment to the strategy should be a focus on domestic violence. Although most violence is perpetrated by men against men , addressing violence in the home (and in schools), particularly against women and children, is key to breaking its cycle.

According to the World Health Organisation , witnessing violence in childhood makes one 3.8 times more likely to be a victim of domestic violence later in life, while living in a high crime neighbourhood makes one 5.6 times more likely of the same.

Policing domestic violence is not easy. It occurs behind walls and closed doors, and often requires vulnerable victims to risk additional abuse by seeking police help. Nor is there significant evidence that policing alone effectively reduces domestic violence.

But hundreds if not thousands of people call on the country’s police service for such intervention each month, giving the government important opportunities to signal to the public that violence is not tolerated and victims will be supported. To do so, police must appreciate the link between domestic violence and societal violence.

Dedicated police officials should promptly investigate domestic violence reports, especially in murder hot spots, and work with social workers to fast-track interventions, mediations and, if necessary, prosecutions. They must also respond rapidly to any breaches in negotiated agreements or court orders by abusers.

Targeted interventions

The third adjustment pertains to visible policing. The idea that general “visible policing” will make South Africa safe is appealing but not supported by evidence. Rather, policing is most effective when directed at specific places (hotspots), people (gang members, for example), and crimes (cash in transit heists, street robbery, murder). This is true of both police patrols and investigations.

It’s, therefore, promising that the new police strategy focuses on crime hot spots and crime types amenable to police intervention, such as aggravated robbery perpetrated by organised groups. It is important that the police not try to increase visible police in general, or to target general crime equally, everywhere.

Rather, targeted medium and long-term interventions are key. These should be planned and guided by best practice and crime data, and be implemented in a manner that allows rapid adaption and learning based on contextual dynamics. Participating police must work within the rule of law and treat all those they encounter, including suspects, fairly.

Cause for optimism

Andrew Faull , Research Associate, University of Cape Town

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The Crime and Violence in South Africa, Essay Example

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The history of South Africa has always captured our attention. Africans have gone through the hard transition of being colonized to the status when the population has been earning their survival by being under the “white” supervision. In the time before 1900 Africans seem to have failed to provide a decent living for their population by means of their own labor, agriculture and economic development.

• Why was South Africa occupied?
• What was the influence of the British colonial era?
• How were Africans treated during the era of diamonds and gold ?
• How did South Africans resist invaders of their territory?

These are the questions that have been analyzed the researches and historians in order to get a better perspective of the culture and fate of South Africa. Violence and crime in the area is often reflected by the political developments that took place at that time.

Why Was South Africa Occupied?

Researches have different opinions and explanations about why have South Africans experienced strong failure about their economy. Some say it was the influence of white rule, dislocation of social order and traditional economy. Others argue that Africans failed to adapt their economy to novel conditions of land scarcity and inability to learn from the white farmers the new and modern methods of agriculture. “It is suggested that the crucial post-mineral period was one in which non-market forces predominated; in which discriminatory and coercive means were utilized by the wielders of economic and political power to disadvantage African peasantry; and that an economy was created whose structure was such as to render ‘market forces’ highly favorable to the white, capitalist sector” [1] . According to Colin Bundy African agriculture had been strongly dependent and brought strong outcome because of capitalist developers in the area.

South Africa was the site of earliest settlement of Europeans when Dutch East India Company opened its supply base in Table Bay. Their settlements grew and encountered Khoisan and Bantu Africans. Dutch occupants were called Boers and managed to create big farms and import necessary labor. This meant that while Africa was exporting slaves, Cape Colony was importing.

Slaves were mostly brought from Madagascar, India or other parts of Africa. They were used to do physical jobs and be servants of whites. Dutch East India Company had a huge slave hostel in Cape Town. Many blacks were owned by free citizens. To become a free citizen one had to obtain his or her freedom to make living separate from the Company. Slaves of the free citizens often helped to cultivate wine, vegetables, wheat, etc. Many were employed as the home servants.

South Africans were very limited. They had to obey curfews, were not allowed to walk through streets of Cape Town. Slaves were restricted from gathering in groups on holidays, did not have access to church or public houses. The slaves that stood up against their owners or gave false claims were put to death.

What Was the Influence of the British Colonial Era?

When Great Britain gained control over Cape, it basically wanted to use the town as their port for traders’ voyages. Colonizers were looking for new lands and sources of prosperity. The British established a Cape Colony and in the next years had several wars against Xhosa in order to extend the land area and subdue the population. Britain was viewed as the power that had the abilities to set the order in the South African. Many British traders and missionaries favored the idea of extending their administration throughout the territory.

An ordinary African peasant at the beginning of nineteenth century has been living on mission stations or in a vicinity of markets. It was believed that this brought a positive influence over civilizing the natives and getting them adapted to peaceful neighbors. The British improved opportunities for farmers in terms of exporting sheep and wool. But with the abolition of slavery they did anger Boers. Passing the Hottentot Law, which meant that any black found without a pass could be taken by the white farmer, was quite controversial. It further angered Boers because it gave blacks the right to have a contract between them and white farmers and an ability to even sue them. The most critical moment happened in 1833 when British abolished the slavery throughout South Africa. The law resulted into massive migration of Boer farmers, which made rich Boers frustrated about losing the slaves.

Starting from mid-50s with the adoption of plough and other agricultural innovations, white farmers complained about the shortage of labor and initiated leasing land to Africans for cash and farming. This established a certain quasi-feudal relations between them as a short term response to white labor needs.

According to Leonard Thompson history had created a cleavage between white South Africans [2] . These people have spent a great amount of time outside of Europe. Therefore, they have acquired a rural mode of life and treated themselves as separate people. Afrikaners differed themselves from British community, thus, causing the latter at times seeking protection from Britain. However, the republics were too weak and economically unstable to command the allegiance of the colonial Afrikaners.

How Were Africans Treated During the Era of Diamonds and Gold?

Between 1870 and 1886 with the discovery of diamonds and gold there appeared new opportunities and markets for African peasants. But this did not involve everybody. There still remained a big number of poor and hungry population. The prosperity and progress of that time was not freely and equally divided among inhabitations. At this time of economic growth the struggles took place between the Boers and British as well as Europeans and indigenous population. Diamond rush turned the city of Kimberley into a big town where both blacks and whites worked independent claims. As the mines went deeper, many businessmen consolidated them into large mines. Among them were natives of Britain, Germany, etc. The mine workers who were blacks often experienced many injustices. Employees, “who composed the majority of diggers, were abused by owners, who often sold claims from beneath their feet or took over proved claims on their own account [3] ”. The land owners in order to secure the labor often tied workers to the spots by means of contracts. The wages promised rarely were real.

In 1886 second major wave took place at Pretoria where the world’s largest deposit of gold has been found. Both diamond and gold mining spots had lack of labor as their major problem. Local governments started passing laws that greatly limited the abilities of Africans to own a mine or its products. Black Africans had to live in special neighborhoods since they were forbidden to live where they wanted.

How Did South Africans Resist Invaders of Their Territory?

Resisting the British, the Transvaal Boers also saw a threat by the Zulu state. Zulu occupied dry region with small rivers and were relatively prosperous. They were the subgroup of Nguni. Series of dry years worsened the relations between the two in the struggle for water and good land and resulted into a number of wars. Zulu became a powerful African state. As long as Zulu were viewed as a threat to Boers, the latter accepted the British rule. However, after British won over Zulu, Transvaal Boers violated the conventions and fought against the British. With time Britain singed agreements with Boers on restoration of Transvaal autonomy. British people tried to annex Transvaal and tried to annex others as well. In 1886 with the discovery of gold in Witwatersrand the power in the region shifted to Boers. Blacks were still being discriminated because of the racial identity and the working class status.

There is no doubt that blacks have suffered tremendously during the colonial times. Slaves were being removed from their families, forced into physical labor and suffered numerous injustices. Even though blacks had some access to courts, their words were not enough to fights against whites. There were also encounters of slaves doing easy household chores. For instance, in Cape Town, they run errands or even acted like traders. But nevertheless, blacks were always condemned to heavy labor with the very cruel punishments from their owners. “Although they (whites) owned the majority of slave in the colony, they freed a tiny proportion [4] .”

Africans had a broad range of life experiences. They were being transformed from autonomous and self-sufficient chiefdoms into dependent peasant communities. One of the most obvious factors was the land shortage for peasantry. At the end of nineteenth century it was not necessary in Cape to have a “buffer” class of small-holders among Africans. Peasants had low access to goods because most was concentrated in the hands of traders that invaded South Africa. African chiefdoms have been subdued under the white control. In many cases these changed involved bloodshed.

Bibliography

Bundy, Colin. “The Emergence and Decline of a South African Peasantry” (St. Antony’s College, Oxford), 369

Elphick, Richard and  Shell, Robert. “Intergroup relations: Khoikhoi, settlers, slaves and free blacks, 1652-1795”, (USA) 213

Thompson, Leonard and  Wilson, Monica. “The Oxford History of South Africa” (Oxford), 247

Turrell, Rob. “Kimberley: Labour and Compounds, 1871-1888”, (USA) 51

[1] Colin Bundy, “The Emergence and Decline of a South African Peasantry” (St. Antony’s College, Oxford), 369

[2] Leonard Thompson, Monica Wilson, “The Oxford History of South Africa” (Oxford), 247

[3] Rob Turrell, “Kimberley: Labour and Compounds, 1871-1888”, (USA) 51

[4] Richard Elphick and Robert Shell, “Intergroup relations: Khoikhoi, settlers, slaves and free blacks, 1652-1795”, (USA) 213

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South Africa: Violence and Crime

The Republic of South Africa is the most economically developed country in Africa. Now it is a BRICS country and a member of the G20, but, until the end of the last century, it was under international sanctions approved by the UN due to the official apartheid policy ‑ discrimination against the black majority by whites. Apartheid was eliminated only in the late 90s as a result of the struggle of black generations for their rights. Now, after the victory is won, another serious problem is observed in the country ‑ the illiteracy of the black population, and hence the poverty that causes crime.

South Africa is a country with a high crime rate. The average number of attempted murders is approximately 18,000 annually (Mahofa, Sundaram, and Edwards 4). The country’s problem lies in the presence of criminal groups opposing each other and representing opposition to the current government. According to a study conducted by the United Nations in 2003-2011, the Republic of South Africa took first place in the world in the number of rapes per capita (Crais 96-97).

In 2017, South Africa again came to first place in the world in the number of rapes committed, both in the groups of women and children, as well as homosexuals of both sexes, per hundred thousand of the population. Severe sexual crimes in this almost 49 millionth country occur every 56 seconds, according to UN statistics; there are at least 500 thousand cases a year (Urban Safety Reference Group, 2017).

In South Africa, increasingly more serious crimes, murders, and rape are also happening every year because of hatred towards representatives of the LGBT community. Although gay marriage in the country was officially legalized in 2006, namely here the largest number of monstrous cases of the so-called “treatment-and-correctional rape” of lesbians and gays is observed. These crimes are often committed with the approval of relatives and neighbors, convinced that it is possible to make a person “normal heterosexual” (Lindegaard 7-8). The term “corrective rape” itself was born precisely in South Africa ‑ after the gang rape and brutal murder of Eudy Simelane, a South African LGBT rights activist and a famous soccer player.

Many travelers characterize Johannesburg as a city that is in a state of martial law. The phrase “crime rate” doesn’t mean much here, because crime is a daily occurrence for city residents. Many houses in Johannesburg are fenced with barbed wire; there is a division into districts, and residents of one district may be non grata persons in another. Crime is most prevalent among black people. However, many whites in Johannesburg try to settle as far as possible from dangerous areas. Those who are rich are either criminal authorities or businessmen who, as soon as possible, seek to leave Johannesburg.

In Johannesburg, the economic boom has led to amazing results: over ten years, the value of the real estate has increased by three thousand percent. Here, more than anywhere else, prosperity does not depend on skin color (Kriegler and Shaw 150-152). However, for many South Africans, decades of political freedom did not bring the prosperity they were counting on. Across the country, five million people live in slum towns for less than a dollar a day (Smith 130-133).

Today, it is the financial capital of Africa, the largest city of the country, and, at the same time, a breeding ground for crime, whose white inhabitants now reside on reservations that are more like fortresses. Unemployment in the poorest areas exceeds 70%; half of South Africans live below the poverty line (Kriegler and Shaw 152). As the gap between rich and poor widens, the new South African nation is increasingly confronted with the threat of crime.

The most dangerous areas of Johannesburg are slums, and in some of them, by the standards of South Africa, rather wealthy people live. They usually have running water, electricity, and a toilet. By the standards of many residents, such amenities represent a kind of luxury. Residents of the poorest slums use dry closets, do not know electricity, and live in houses assembled from corrugated sheets (Scheingold 200-203).

The problem of the city lies also in social aggression against whites, associated with the desire to “restore justice,” since, during apartheid, the black population was treated as second-class people. In South Africa, racial crime flourishes today: black Africans often attack without any thirst for material gain, and do so rather avenge their colonial past. According to statistics, housebreaking and killing of white house owners are not always accompanied by the theft of things and money (Lindegaard 85-86). Thus, the legacy of apartheid makes itself felt.

The official ideology of South Africa, called “apartheid,” implying separate living in the country of a white and “colored” (primarily, black) population, played a really important role in shaping the current crime rate. The Black population of South Africa was obliged to live in specially designated areas, the so-called. ” “locations.” Departure from these reservations and visits to cities by black South Africans could be made only in two cases: either by special permission (of course, obtained with great difficulty), or if there was a workplace in the “white” zones.

Moreover, the work in most cases was associated with heavy, low-skilled labor for the lowest possible pay (Crais 24-32). Cheap labor in the 1940s and 80s, against the background of a resource-exploiting economy, played a significant role in transforming South Africa into the most developed country in Africa.

For the blacks to live in the 1950s and 60s, a system of isolated townhouses, special villages for black South Africans, was created outside the city limits. Such a townhouse, called Soweto, was built next to Johannesburg, and the inhabitants of the former black settlements which had spontaneously formed around the “City of Gold” were forcibly evicted here (Soudien, Reddy, and Woolard 39). In fairness, it should be noted that the state initially tried to give Soweto more or less civilized features, albeit with racial discrimination.

The village, with the money of ‘diamond king’ Ernest Oppenheimer, was built up with neat, typical four-room houses, nicknamed by the locals as “matchboxes” (Smith 38-57). However, the rapid population growth of the town has led to the fact that these areas appeared overgrown with chaotic slum-like buildings. By 1983, 1.8 million people were already living in Soweto (Super 70-71).

After the elimination of apartheid, the black population of the country gained access to areas previously closed to it and, of course, immediately seized the opportunity. Whites, who continued to live in central Johannesburg, the so-called. “Inner city,” promptly left their apartments. New tenants with a different skin color immediately settled in their place.

This was a classic example of the “White Flight,” but different, for example, from the same situation in Detroit, USA. If in the “City of Motors,” the leading role was played by the depressive state of the main branch of the urban economy ‑ the automobile industry, while in the “City of Gold,” political processes were primarily the base. However, regardless of the root causes, the result was the same: both megalopolises from “white” became “black.” Already in 1994, in the province of Gauteng, the capital of which was Johannesburg, 83 murders per 100,000 inhabitants were recorded. For comparison, 54 people out of 100,000 were killed in the crime-occupied Detroit that same year (Super 66-69).

In recent years, the South African government has made attempts to turn the tide. The state allocates quite serious money for the regeneration of the country’s largest city and the restoration of its positive reputation. The buildings that have degraded over the past twenty years are being reconstructed, and the relatively small black middle class, which still appeared in those years, is populated here.

The South African government has spent about a hundred million dollars on rebranding Johannesburg. The official urban slogan was the bold statement “African world-class city.” The authorities do not lose hope of returning the image of the cosmopolitan business capital of the continent to it, but with a multicultural connotation without any discrimination. However, there are too many typically African problems in a world-class city. The city is still surrounded by brutal slums, where sometimes there is no sewage or water. Crime, although it has decreased, remains at a level incomparable with the civilized countries of the “golden billion.”

In central Johannesburg, tourists, especially whites, are still not advised to get out of their cars. South Africa, and with it, its largest city, is sweeping the AIDS epidemic. However, the main thing is the racial division, which, seeming to have been eliminated more than twenty years ago, de facto continues to exist. Johannesburg is still a city of confrontation between two ghettos: the black one, still poor, but blaming the other side for all its troubles, and the white, prosperous, but now existing behind the barbed wire, dominated by the psychology of the besieged fortress.

The South African National Development Program, adopted several years ago, aims to eradicate poverty and reduce inequality by 2030 by attracting and strengthening own potential, developing an inclusive economy, and encouraging partnerships.

The plan aims to eliminate poverty-reducing the proportion of households with monthly incomes of less than 419 rands per person and reducing inequality in South Africa. The plan states that crime can be reduced by strengthening the justice system and improving the public environment (Gould, Hsiao, and Amisi 6). “The progress observed over the past two decades implies the use of new approaches,” the plan says, with the following interrelated priority goals being formulated (Gould, Hsiao, and Amisi 7-8):

• Rallying all South Africans around the common goal of prosperity and equality.
• Promoting the establishment of active citizens’ community to enhance development, democracy, and accountability.

However, the stated goals are rather declarative, and the plan is poorly implemented in practice. The attitude of the South African government towards crime is doubtful. In all failures, it tends to blame the police, which supposedly cannot cope with the tasks. However, it is known that there are many corrupt people among officials who are ready to cooperate with criminal elements for the sake of the spread of narcotic substances and making a profit.

Moreover, the practice of kidnapping for ransom is still ongoing (Gould, Hsiao, and Amisi 11). Organized crime in South Africa negatively affects the state of national security, criminalizing all spheres of society and various social institutions, actively resisting law enforcement and efforts to combat crime. Even though today human rights defenders are trying to attract the attention of the countries of Europe, America, as well as Australia, and New Zealand to the problem of racial crime in South Africa, the situation remains very tense.

Works Cited

Crais, Clifton. Poverty, War, and Violence in South Africa . Cambridge University Press, 2011.

Gould, Chandré Diketso Mufamadi, Celia Hsiao, and Matodzi Amisi. Reducing Violence in South Africa: From Policing to Prevention . Institute for Security Studies, 2017.

Kriegler, Anine and Mark Shaw. A Citizen’s Guide to Crime Trends in South Africa Jonathan Ball, 2016.

Lindegaard, Marie Rosenkrantz. Surviving Gangs, Violence and Racism in Cape Town: Ghetto Chameleons . Routledge, 2017.

Mahofa, Godfrey Asha Sundaram, and Lawrence Edwards. “Impact of Crime on Firm Entry: Evidence from South Africa.” ERSA working paper 652, 2016, pp. 1-19.

Scheingold, Stuart A. The Politics of Law and Order: Street Crime and Public Policy . Quid Pro, 2016.

Smith, Nicholas R. Contradictions of Democracy: Vigilantism and Rights in Post-Apartheid South Africa. Oxford University Press, 2019.

Soudien, Crain, Vasu Reddy, and Ingrid Woolard. Poverty and Inequality: Diagnosis, Prognosis, and Responses. HSRC Press, 2019.

Super, Gail. Governing through Crime in South Africa: The Politics of Race and Class in Neoliberalizing Regime . Ashgate, 2013.

Urban Safety Reference Group. The State of Urban Safety in South Africa . Urban Safety Reference Group, 2017.

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Home — Essay Samples — Law, Crime & Punishment — Criminals in Society — Reasons Of The Increase Of Crime In South Africa

Reasons of The Increase of Crime in South Africa

• Categories: Criminals in Society South Africa

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Published: Jul 15, 2020

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Link between crime and politics in South Africa raises concerns about criminal gangs taking over

Associate Professor, Political Sciences, and Deputy Dean Teaching and Learning (Humanities), University of Pretoria

Disclosure statement

Sandy Africa is affiliated with the University of Pretoria's Faculty of Humanities, which partnered with the Global Initiative against Transnational Organised Crime (GITOC), the Human Sciences Research Council (HSRC) and the Institute for Security Studies (ISS) to launch GITOC's 'Strategic Organised Crime Risk Assessment: South Africa' in September 2022.

University of Pretoria provides funding as a partner of The Conversation AFRICA.

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A report by the Global Initiative Against Transnational Organised Crime (Gitoc) released in September 2022 argues that South Africa has increasingly become a centre of organised crime, transcending national boundaries.

The picture emerging from the report is that there are organised networks inside and outside the state that enable, facilitate and exploit opportunities for private gain. Or, they exercise unfair advantage in economic activity in the public and private sectors, using coercive methods. Some actively go about sabotaging critical infrastructure to benefit from this.

The areas of public life where criminals exploit or intimidate their way into influence are growing. In recent times grand-scale crime has seeped through to healthcare , education and parastatals . Speaking out against malfeasance comes at a high price.

Read more: Crime, COVID and climate change - South African tourism faces many threats, but it’s resilient

This is apart from the scores of political assassinations of local activists and officials, either for political gain or sheer vengeance against those who dare to call out corruption.

Mafia state

There is no doubt that there is a growing ecosystem of organised crime overwhelming the state and public life in the country. And, because political actors or state institutions are so often implicated in it, some commentators are even asking if South Africa is becoming a “mafia state” .

The term “mafia state” refers to the interpenetration of governments and organised crime networks. In his influential 2012 article, Mafia States , Venezuelan journalist and writer Moises Naim said:

In a mafia state, high government officials actually become integral players in, if not the leaders of, criminal enterprises, and the defence and promotion of those enterprises’ businesses become official priorities.

There is no single prototype for when a state can be labelled a mafia state. The concept is best thought of as a spectrum. The most extreme cases involve politicians at the highest levels taking direct control of organised crime operations. Other characteristics are collusion between crime syndicates and powerful political figures, money laundering to hide illicit proceeds, and the use of violence and intimidation to protect those involved.

The Gitoc report shies away from using the label “mafia state” to describe South Africa. What it does make clear is that there is a proliferation of crime networks that involves not just criminal “kingpins” and politically connected individuals but also ordinary people. They become part of this “value chain”, for different historical reasons. But South Africa may be reaching a point where the link between crime and politics is sustained because there are role-players who do not want to see it changing.

Fighting corruption

The prevalence of criminal elements within the state does not mean that the whole of the state has become a criminal enterprise. But it is true that many state institutions, have been targeted by criminals, with the collusion of people on the inside.

South Africans are not resigned to the criminalisation of the state, and are actively challenging it. Many of the revelations about fraud, corruption and nepotism come from principled whistle-blowers within state structures. Others come from the relatively free media, and voices in civil society and politics. Some of the malfeasance has been revealed by inquiries initiated by the executive itself. This is the case with the Zondo Commission, which probed state capture .

Read more: Using the South African army to fight crime is a bad idea: here's why

Poor communication strategies make it difficult for ordinary citizens to assess how the state is responding to these challenges. A case in point is the government’s decision to deploy the military to beef up security at several electricity generation facilities. It remains to be seen whether the deployment will be able to stop the acts of sabotage that the ESKOM senior management claim to be a major factor in the worsening energy crisis.

As with the July 2021 riots , sparked by the jailing of former president Jacob Zuma for contempt of court, there are conflicting public pronouncements from cabinet ministers on critical sectors and services affected by crime.

The political economy of organised crime

The South African economy has a formal sector (“first economy”) and an informal sector (“second economy”). Economists call this a dual economy . To this should be added a “third economy” – the illicit economic activities described above, that have seeped into the formal and informal economies.

The overlap between the licit and the illicit economy in South Africa is complex. Even big, multinational companies may also covertly engage in illicit operations in spite of appearances. On the other hand, criminals often exploit vulnerable people where the state has failed to meet basic needs: they offer jobs, opportunities and income, a phenomenon seen not only in South Africa, but across the African continent .

Looking forward

Part of the reset South Africa needs to untangle political and crime networks is better policing and security strategies. The state must be able to assert its authority in the interests of the majority, law-abiding citizens who want to live honest lives in a climate of certainty.

If the crime-politics nexus is being deliberately sustained through the collusion of influential actors within the state, then it is going to be much harder to dismantle.

The resources being spent to address crime will be ineffective. The spectre of corrupt, pliable or compromised people in the criminal justice sector will make the future more unstable. Violence and threats against those who stand up against organised crime will become more commonplace.

The reports of the Zondo Commission , the Special Investigating Unit , whistle-blower reports, work by investigative journalists , research by academics , think tanks and civil society organisations , all go some way towards showing how the slide towards a criminal state can be halted. The criminal justice system must bring criminals to book, not give way to impunity.

But more important than combating crime is asking the difficult questions about how ordinary people end up involved in organised crime, and why the country’s democracy is becoming more polarised .

Read more: Many Kenyans have embraced vigilante cops – an ineffective police force is to blame

If the dire socio-economic conditions persist, there is every likelihood that organised criminals will continue to exploit the contradictions in society, and organised crime markets will expand.

The stakes are high. Stopping South Africa from becoming a “mafia state” ought to be a priority for everyone. This will become a key issue of concern to voters ahead of the 2024 national general elections.

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• State capture
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Crime, Justice, and Growth in South Africa

In this section, crime, justice, and growth in south africa: toward a plausible contribution from criminal justice to economic growth, cid faculty working paper no. 131.

Christopher Stone August 2006

A publication of the  CID South Africa Growth Initiative

Crime in South Africa is high and widely believed to restrain investment. Nevertheless, both the mechanisms through which crime constrains growth and the actions that might be taken to loosen its grip are poorly understood. In light of the limited knowledge in the field and the limited capacity of criminal justice institutions, this paper proposes focusing on two issues: (1) the costs of crime to business, especially household-based enterprises in low-income settlements, and (2) the perception of violent crime. In both cases, the paper proposes a cyclical process of iterative innovation in which government seeks to solve narrowly circumscribed crime problems, and then leverages each success to generate wider hope and confidence in the criminal justice system.

Keywords : South Africa, crime

JEL subject codes : O55, K42

Law and Crime

What are the "causes" of crime, it's important to differentiate between cause and opportunity..

Posted March 16, 2022 | Reviewed by Ekua Hagan

• For decades, there has been a futile search for "root causes" of crime, citing nearly any adversity as causal to criminal conduct.
• There is a difference between an environmental cause and providing an "opportunity" for crime to occur.
• Critical to understanding criminal behavior are basic personality makeup and thinking patterns.

The perennial search continues to identify causes of criminal behavior. Nearly everything but the federal deficit has been identified as playing a causal role. The term “root cause” is still used to describe what are considered critical environmental factors. The earliest citation of a link between poverty (long considered a “root cause”) and crime has been attributed to Roman emperor and philosopher Marcus Aurelius (121-180 A.D.) who stated, “Poverty is the mother of crime.” In some quarters, crime is even considered to be a normal and adaptive response to economic disadvantage.

Unanticipated setbacks and hardship have been regarded as critically important to “pushing over the edge” into crime people who have been law-abiding throughout their lives. A woman in jail told me that when her boyfriend deserted her and her baby, she had no money even to purchase diapers. Out of desperation, she started selling drugs (eventually to an undercover police officer). She asserted that she is not a “criminal,” but just wanted to care for her infant. One might wonder the following: What does her choice of boyfriend say about her? Why did she not seek help to receive financial assistance? What, if any, was her prior connection to drugs and how did she find her way into the drug market? As was the case with this woman, there is always more to the story about the person committing a crime versus resolving her dilemma in a more responsible way.

Hardship does not "cause" criminal behavior

Let’s take three recent examples in which a particular hardship has been seen as causing people to turn to crime.

According to a Wall Street Journal column of December 6, 2021, Jen Psaki, the White House press secretary, stated that the COVID-19 pandemic is “a root cause [of a surge in crime] in a lot of communities.” The Washington Post reported that the COVID-19 pandemic resulted in “a growing subset of Americans who are stealing food.” A young woman explained to a reporter, “People are being forced to steal when they shouldn’t have to.” Another said, “I don’t feel too bad about taking $15 or $20 of stuff from Whole Foods when Jeff Bezos [owner of Whole Foods Market] is the richest man on earth.” The statements made by the two thieves clearly are after the fact justifications. One might wonder why one of them chose to shop at Whole Foods when it is one of the most expensive grocery chains. Next to this article was another that focused on a very different response to the pandemic— generosity by Black Americans despite their own hardships.

Millions of people have been struggling through the pandemic while suffering loss, illness, isolation, and financial pressures. There is no evidence that the pandemic has turned responsible people into criminals.

Recently, The Los Angeles Times (3/10/22) reported, “Concerns about gas thefts from cars rise as prices soar.” Citing a warning from the American Automobile Association, the Times stated, “There is a possibility that people are looking for crimes of opportunity [and] gasoline for their own vehicles.” Consequently, they are punching holes in gas tanks. However, most motorists are trying to become more economical and find ways to reduce gasoline consumption. Inflated prices do not “cause” criminal behavior.

Crime results from the way a person thinks

It is time to eliminate the term “root cause” because it turns out to be meaningless. Twelve years ago, a Christian Science Monitor article concluded with a simple statement, “The root cause of crime is the opportunity to commit it.” Opportunities present themselves, but only a small number of people exploit those opportunities in a criminal manner.

Making improvements to the environment can reduce opportunities for criminals to strike. However, such changes do not transform a criminal into a responsible person. Attributing criminal behavior to external circumstances perpetuates a deterministic view that ignores the role of choice and tends to absolve people of personal responsibility.

Crime results from the way a person thinks. One must look at the overall personality of the individual and his thinking patterns to understand the genesis of criminal behavior. Writing about juvenile crime in 1966, sociologist Robert MacIver stated, “To ask why delinquency occurs is like asking why human nature is what it is.”

Gerard Baker, "Biden Finds a Culprit for America's Crime Wave: Covid-19," The Wall Street Journal , 12/6/21

"More Americans are shoplifting among pandemic," The Washington Post, 12/13/20, p. G1

"While Black Americans have less, they give more," The Washington Post , 12/13/20, p. G1

"Concerns about gas theft from cars rise as prices soar," The Los Angeles Times , 3/10/22

Tim Worstall, "The root cause of crime? It's Simple," The Christian Science Monitor , 2/22/10

Robert M. McIver. The Prevention and Control of Delinquency , NY: Atherton Press, 1966, p. 41

Stanton Samenow, Ph.D. , an expert in criminal behavior, was the author of many books including Inside the Criminal Mind .

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