Crime hits 2 out of 4 families
2007-4-06 15:25
Johannesburg - More South Africans today are feeling vulnerable to criminal activity than they did in 2004.
When asked in a survey, conducted by The Nielsen Company in February 2007, whether they believed crime had increased, stayed the same, or decreased, 90% of South African living in urban areas reported that there was no improvement in crime levels, or that incidents of crime had increased.
This is up by 12% from the 2004 survey, where these perceptions were already pervasive.
On a provincial level, Western Cape residents appear to be feeling the most vulnerable as 95% of this group report that there has been no improvement or a growth in crime levels.
Based on reality
Unfortunately, these perceptions appear to be very much based on reality as 2 in 4 urban citizens report that they, or a close family member, have been a victim of crime in the past three months.
In the 2004 survey, the reported figure was 1 in 5.
Western Cape (27.5%), Eastern Cape (28.2%) and Natal (28.8 % ) have the highest incidence of crime, as claimed by respondents in the 2007 survey.
Free State has the lowest levels according to these self-reports.
While South Africans living in Limpopo and Mpumalanga recount relatively lower levels of crime than do those living in other provinces, their claims of being at the receiving end of criminal actions has increased by 7% since the 2004 survey from 17.3% to 24.2%.
No provinces have reported a decrease in crime.
Increase in women reporting crime
According to the results of the 2007 survey, more victims claim to have reported crimes to the police than they did in 2004.
While this is true of all race groups, both the 2004 and 2007 surveys show that White and Indian victims are more likely to report crimes than are Black and Coloured victims.
There are also differences between the sexes in reporting crime: While the incidence of men reporting crimes has remained stable, there has been an increase in officially reporting crimes amongst women, from 70.4% in 2004 to 80.1% in 2007, which may be a result of woman becoming more empowered.
The main single reason for not reporting crime in both 2004 and 2007, was the belief amongst victims that the police would not investigate the crime.
This may stem from the perception that the police are overwhelmed by the high crime levels.
On a positive note, when looking at the mean scores (score out of 5, where 5 is the highest score) of the service levels and efficiency at police stations, most provinces shows no improvement.
Although the Eastern Cape police services had the highest mean scores in both the 2004 and 2007 results, their overall score dropped from 3.37 to 3.1 respectively, along with Western Cape?s police who dropped from 3.17 to 2.9.
The lowest score for police services currently is Free State at 2.7.
In the 2007 survey, 2 out of 3 respondents reported that they felt that government's response to crime is less than what it should be.
This sentiment is particularly strong amongst Western Cape residents, who also report one of the highest levels of crime, where 82.7% of the respondents felt that not enough was being done by the government.
While there are differences in the perceptions and incidence of crimes as reported by individual groups, these differences are small, and the consensus is that there has been an increase in crime levels since 2004.
News24