Johannesburg - While South Africa marked Human Rights Day today, Action Society said the country witnesses more than 28 000 murders annually.
A spokesperson for Action Society, Ian Cameron, said the murder rate had been on the rise for a number of years. He said the South African government needed to take a number of steps to guarantee citizens protection from criminals.
“We have between 26 and 28 murders per year and around 80 murders per day. There is a problem with prosecution and correction. Only 14% of these murders are solved, meaning it’s easy to get away with murder in South Africa,” he said.
Cameron said he was impressed by the co-ordinated approach that the police took in preventing bloodshed and violence during Monday’s EFF shutdown.
According to Cameron, should the government have a strong political will to combat crime, there could be a decrease in the murder rate.
“Yesterday actually showed us that if political will is there, we can not only combat crime, but we can actually prevent crime. It was good to see, and it actually made me feel hopeful; you felt there was some kind of control,” he said.
However, Cameron said he was not supportive of the use of the SANDF for policing work.
“If there is a real threat to democracy, I think it’s a real danger to just bring in soldiers to do policing; they are trained to kill. The army is not trained to do police work; we could have similar cases, such as those that took place when we were under lockdown or during looting,” he said.
He said the police were under-resourced, which was another reason that the crime and murder rate in South Africa was at concerning levels.
“They have not adequately trained and resourced the police; they think it looks good to rope in the army, but if the police were well trained they would not need the army,” he said.
The Star