As a small illustration the depth of the crime problem in South Africa, I thought I’d make a quick list of my own experiences with crime (or those of people close to me) over the past month:

1. My mother owns a shop in a local shopping centre. About a month ago, a cellular store nearby her was robbed, and their entire store of stock was effectively wiped out. Since they were brand new, they didn’t yet have insurance. The shop shut down for an entire month after the robbery, while they presumably tried to find finance to make up for the loss. They eventually reopened a few days ago, but whether they’ll survive is an open question. I know from experience that even a small shop can employ a fair amount of people; it’s just one more example of why job creation on its own can’t be used as a strategy against crime. It’s very difficult for job-creating businesses to operate when they’re constantly being attacked by criminals.
2. Three weeks ago, the front valance on my car (a part valued by the manufacturer at R2,881) was stolen while I was parked in Pretoria. Fortunately I was able to procure a second-hand alternative for a smaller (but still hefty) sum.
3. A week ago, the appliance store at which my girlfriend works part-time was burgled during the night. The thieves ripped the safe out the wall, stole employee salaries and expensive mechanical parts. For some reasons they also trashed the store, smashed a computer on the ground, and destroyed shop fittings seemingly for the sheer wanton pleasure of it. The circumstances of the burglary indicated that it was probably an inside job, organised by a current or former employee. With a limited pool of suspects, investigating and solving crime is probably possible; but of course, the police have far more serious crimes to worry about, and won’t spend much time investigating a mere burglary.
4. A few days later, a friend told me there had been a burglary at his workplace. Thieves broke in and stole a plasma screen and some LCD computer monitors. The silent alarm system went off, alerting the owner with an SMS. He called the on-site security, but in a fit of incompetence, they dismissed it as a false alarm. It later emerged that the thieves had broken in from the N1 highway; you’d think someone would have noticed.
5. Yesterday morning, my mother went to our local bank, and walked in during the middle of an armed robbery. The robbery was a fairly benign one, as far as these things go: one of the bank employees was assaulted and injured, but nobody was killed, and no shots were fired at all. A banker told her afterwards that this was the fourth robbery she’d been involved in. The bank, in case anyone was wondering, was an FNB - little wonder they’re upset over the crime situation. The robbers made a clean escape.

As far as crimes go, none of these are especially severe. The damage was mostly financial; nobody was killed. But the sheer frequency of it all is disturbing. Almost any South African, picked out at random, can tell similar stories. And the economic cost of so even non-violent crime accumulates and eventually causes serious harm to the country. These crimes are all similar in another way, too: in none of these cases were the criminals caught. Yes, there is a crime problem. The government just needs to acknowledge it.