If you feel unsafe in your home and on the streets, you haven't been imagining things. South Africa is one of the most unsafe places on Earth. More people are dying here than in many war zones across the world.
The statistics are scary. They make you feel hopeless. More than 20000 people are murdered in South Africa each year. That’s 57 people a day.
We are all just statistics waiting to happen. The criminals rule South Africa.
And if we bank on politicians to stop the killings, the criminals, who sometimes work with police officers, will be knocking on our doors soon.
On Saturday morning, MacFarlane Moleli became the latest crime victim among my friends. His Joburg home was broken into while the family were in the house. It could have been worse.
Moleli experienced what many South Africans have. “Whether you have electric fencing, burglar bars, an alarm system or panic buttons, these faakers (sic) will find a way in! It’s not the crime that hurts, it’s more the feeling of being violated, knowing that you are vulnerable,” he wrote when breaking the news on Facebook.
If you have been burgled, you know this feeling. If you haven't been, the statistics show your turn is coming.
And you can’t do anything about it. The police are unable to do anything about it. The government is unable to do anything about it. The battle has been lost.
Like many people, I celebrated when former national police commissioner Bheki Cele returned to this portfolio, this time as minister. But I have yet to feel his presence. He is no longer the general who loved to shoot from the hip and whose every word struck fear into the hearts of criminals. It’s as if the criminals are showing him the middle finger now. They aren't scared of him anymore.
And if they aren't scared of him, they aren't scared of you.