Crime my beloved country!!!

To all of my friends who knows me well and have followed
my running reports about the crime situation in my country,
here is another very sick and gloomy update.
It was televised Sunday on one of our Magazine programs Carte Blanche
Carte Blanche: http://beta.mnet.co.za/ca...
Here is but two of the heart breaking stories, and after almost 15 years
of carnage the police for the FIRST TIME admitted there is a problem and
the statistics (that baffled everyone in the past) were also for the FIRST time a
true reflection of what is happening in my country and with the World Cup just a few
months away, God help every tourist next year.
Private detectives cracked down on a sex ring last week,
abducting young girls, and “training” them for the influx
of tourist for the soccer World Cup next year!
They prey on the most vulnerable, because they are
such easy targets, and if there are ANY arrests the dockets go ‘missing’
bribery and corruption are rife in almost every facet of the law!Please I know it is a very long piece but try and read all of it,
especially the last one!On Wednesday this week police minister Nathi Mtwetwa released the latest
crime statistics - revealing that the crimes we fear the most are on the rise.
Police Secretary Jenny Irish-Quobosheane says the police are not shying
away from their responsibilities.
Jenny Irish-Quobosheane (Secretary of police): 'We recognize and we've
admitted that we have to deal with this. I think when the minister
presented the crimes stats it wasn't business as usual. He actually
started upfront - before the stats were even presented - saying,
'These are our problems, and these are the areas I'm not happy about,
'and even [in] the areas which he was happy about he acknowledged that
we still have to do more in those areas.'
Although some crimes have come down, others have increased. The area
most affected is business: armed robberies, shoplifting and
commercial crimes are escalating.
Bongani Bingwa (Carte Blanche presenter): 'While there has been a
considerable drop in the number of bank robberies, small businesses
continue to be easy targets and maybe they need this 'no nonsense
'tough approach that the banks have adopted.'
L...uor (heavens I am not aloud to write the type of store, even worse than a place I know)store owner Raphael Pestana has been targeted by gangs
three times this year alone. The first time in January they
were slick - in and out in a flash. The second incident was
far more brazen. First the group of around 15 criminals examined
their options and then they lined up one of the vehicles to ram
through the roller door. They literally ripped the door off and
stormed into the store.
Raphael Pestana (Businessman): 'The stock they took,
it was quite a bit. I mean they were here with four bakkies (pick up vans),
a few vehicles that they had and they were inside my store for
about 14-and-a-half minutes... so they were here for a pretty long time.'
Raphael has since hired a security guard and has placed a barrier
in front of his store to try and prevent a repeat incident.
Despite these measures, he was robbed and pistol whipped a few weeks ago.
Raphael: 'He persisted on hitting me and carrying on, and carrying on.
He whacked me with the barrel of the gun on my head and when he
saw that there was blood, then he left me alone. There was one
customer that was attacked. She sort of refused to give her handbag...'
Bongani: 'Businesses seem to be more of a target?'
Jenny: 'We need a more proactive approach, as police, to those businesses.
What are the things that make those small businesses vulnerable and how can we,
in partnership with small business, big business, other government departments,
actually try and reduce those vulnerabilities?'
Michael Broughton from the Consumer Goods Council says crime is being displaced.
Michael Broughton (Director: Crime Prevention, CGC): 'Some years ago they used
to attack CIT vans and that was the big thing. So they attacked CIT vans, CIT
vans then armored themselves... they drive around like tanks. The criminal mind
is continuously looking at this whole thing and saying to himself,
'Where is the weak link?''.
He believes businesses need to become a hard target for criminals.
Michael: 'Business is looking to itself, certainly in the retail sphere,
the shopping center sphere... we're looking to ourselves and saying,
'What can we do to stop this scourge?''
Bongani: 'According to the latest statistics: In Gauteng, for example,
for the 29 categories of crime listed, 20 have shown a significant increase,
and these include house robbery, sexual crimes, and even murder.'
Compare our [South Africa: 18 148] annual murder statistics to Australia
[230], Canada [580] and England [UK: 648] and it's off the graph
A heartbreaking story!Bongani: (Carte Blanche presenter) 'It looks like a sleepy holiday town, but residents of Cullinan,
north of Pretoria, say crime here is out of control. Many of them have been
attacked, but they are vowing to fight back against the criminals and take
control of their streets.'
Last week residents of this picturesque town marched to create awareness of
the brutal murders and violent robberies that are ripping their community apart.
They're spurred by memories of Pieter van der Berg and his wife Madeleine.
Both in their 60s, the couple lived a good life just outside the town.
Peter took pride in his garden, his house and adored his grandchildren.
But on the 11th of July this year the couple was attacked at home recalls
their daughter, Teresa.
Teresa Stander: 'They attacked him outside and brought him into the house.
Three men tied his hands together and held a knife at his throat.
And my mother heard voices in the passage, so she opened the bathroom
door and saw that they were restraining my father. And then they said
to her that she should come out... if she locks the door they will
shoot her dead through the door.'
Madeleine emerged and took them to the safe as they demanded.
Teresa: 'Then my mother heard a gunshot. When they came back into the
room they said to her, 'The old man won't co-operate.' And then they
told her to unlock the safe. She had to climb over his body in the
passage to the spare room where the safe was, which she then unlocked for them.
They shook out everything that was in there in search of money. They
dressed up in my father's suit and showed her what they looked like
in his clothes.'
Bongani: 'What - they showed her?'
Teresa: 'Yes, and then they asked her where the shoes were.
And when she took them back to the room to show them where the
shoes were, they then pushed her into his wardrobe and locked it.'
They left Teresa's mother locked in the cupboard, set the house
alight and left with their loot.
Teresa: 'She banged against the cupboard until she managed to get
the cupboard open and get out. When she got out she saw her bed was
on fire and when she got into the passage she saw a pile of papers
that had been set alight beside her father's body. She tried to drag
him out, but he was too heavy for her...'
Teresa's mother rushed to neighbors for help. Within minutes the
house was swarming with police, neighbors and friends.
Bongani: 'When you arrived here, what did you see?'
Teresa: 'Oh, when we arrived here - the house was in flames.
My mother sat here in a bakkie. Her hair was singed. She had her pajamas
on because she was about to get changed, and this is all she had to her name.
There were lots of police. My father's body was lying outside on the grass.
They had covered him with a jacket. I just wanted to go and look.
When I got to him and I looked at his face, he was snow white.'
To date no one has been arrested for this heinous crime. Returning and
looking through the rubble and devastation two months later, Teresa is
still clearly traumatized. The house, which was still standing after
the fire, has been plundered, brick by brick. And the people responsible
for the ransacking continued with impunity despite our camera presence.
Bongani: 'We've found some people on the property. This man is digging
what seems to be a tree and I just want to ask him why he's doing this...
what he thinks gives him the right to do this.'
Bongani: 'May I ask you - what are you doing here?'
Man: 'I'm removing this tree.'
Bongani: 'Who gave you permission?'
Man: 'I've seen other people doing it.'
Bongani: 'You do know it's someone's property?'
Man: 'Really?'
Teresa: 'It was such a beautiful place - it looked like a paradise.
My mother made the garden so beautiful. If you look today, there is
nothing left.'
Lawlessness is rife here. Down the road in Rayton, popular lawyer,
father and grandfather Doppies Cilliers was gunned down in his house
for a few small household items. His son Johnny found his
father dead in front of his door.
Bongani: 'Is it hard for you to come back here?'
Johnny Cilliers: 'Yes it is - I relive this every day of my life.'
Bullet holes in the floor under his bed are the only tell-tale signs
of what happened - the police have no leads.
Johnny: 'But I had very poor service from the police in any case.
They haven't been back here since. There is just a statement from me,
which is just two paragraphs long.'
Bongani: 'We've spoken to two families who have been victims of
terrible crimes. Why are we still seeing the maximum pain inflicted
when really only very few items are stolen?'
Jenny: 'All we can say to those families... because we are equally as
horrified... all we can say to those families is that we really are
committing ourselves to actually try and do whatever we can to actually
address this issue.'
Even if the police did find the murderers, it won't bring Johnny's
father Doppies back.
Johnny: 'My father and I were...not just a father and son. We were
probably the biggest