It is abundantly clear that SA is losing the war against crime and especially violent crime if the latest crime statistics are anything to go by.
According to the SAPS, contact-related crimes were up 7.4% last year from the same period in July to September 2020. This was said to have been driven by the July riots in KZN and Gauteng which led to a 30% increase in cases of arson, and a 6.5% increase in cases of malicious damage to property.
During this period, 6,163 people were killed in SA, an increase of 1,056 more people killed. Not to be outdone, cases of rape also increased by 634, with 9,556 people raped.
What the high rate of violent crime and low conviction rates point to is that South Africans live in a virtual state of anarchy trapped as prisoners in their own homes. I have argued before that crime is a clear and present danger to SA and that there is a dire need for practical and sustainable solutions to end it.
We can no longer afford our seasonal outrages after egregious acts of violence and then continue with business as usual until the next outbreak.
Researchers have ascribed incidents of violence to among others, the normalisation of violence, youth vulnerability due to inadequate child-rearing, high levels of inequality and an inefficient and corrupt criminal justice system. It is clear that the police alone will not win the war against the scourge.
There needs to be alteration of attitudes with the engendering of a culture of reporting crime. An SAPS Crime Stop pamphlet I recently saw captures this sentiment in these words: “The world suffers a lot. Not because of the violence of bad people, but because of the silence of good people.”
This is an unequivocal call to shun criminals and not treat them as heroes.
Our homes should become places where children are taught good values to turn them into good citizens who do not do crime. Fathers in particular should show love and “daddycation” to their children and not abandon them, adding to the cancer of fatherless children.
To these intricate scenarios, two pertinent questions are what makes people good and what stops people from committing crime? The answer is that people are made good through better education, and people are inhibited from committing crime by the fear of consequence.
Being in school keeps potential criminals off the streets and possibly exposes them to the right sort of peers and social attitudes. Participation in extramural activities also gets pupils occupied and avoids idling as idle minds are indeed the devil’s workshop.
Education helps people become better citizens, get better paid jobs and illuminates to them the difference between right and wrong. It is for this reason that the iconic Nelson Mandela said “Education is the most powerful weapon you can use to change the world.”
Higher levels of education make individuals more patient and optimistic. This in turn will make them more appreciative of the benefits of delayed gratification.
The socialising influence of school includes stressing the ideal of good citizenship. They give pupils a future-driven outlook on life by allowing them to dream big dreams. This will then cause them to contemplate the consequences of criminal activity more as they will have more to lose by engaging in crime.
Although education is not the magic wand to make the crime wave go away, increased investment in education can have a positive public safety benefit. Crime is a complex issue which stems from a variety of sources which a lack of education can accentuate.
Other propellants include generational poverty and broken homes with deprivation as the main source of criminal inclination.
Social scientists have recognised that schools can serve as a turning point in individuals’ lives as they more often than not, determine the likelihood of delinquency, crime and incarceration. Education can serve as a vehicle for crime prevention as the quantity and quality of education a person receives determines their success and/or way of life.
The influence of education goes beyond the wall of prison as its impact is also believed to reduce crime among criminals as well as curbing recidivism. An inmate from Westville Correctional Service Centre, Sanele Nyawusa, expressed his hopes and desires after the completion of his matric exams: “I am so grateful for this opportunity and I am positive this time around I will pass. I am determined to further my studies and become a teacher and maybe one day in 2026 when I come out I will become a successful person.”
I am reminded of the words of American abolitionist, orator and statesman, Frederick Douglass:, “It is easier to build strong children than to repair broken men.”
For SA to turn the tide against crime there needs to be a comprehensive crime-prevention strategy in place that should have at its core the education of SA children.
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