Beaty 1

Tyres Beaty
Kelsey Agar
English II Honors
1 December 2015
Crime in South Africa
South Africa is a pleasant place to relax and a great tourist destination, but one
cannot be blindsided by the surrounding beauty. The crime in South Africa has increased
with issues like rape, murders and assaults than most countries. The government has been
criticized for not doing enough to stop the crime rate in South Africa. South Africa is
listed as one of the top ten countries in the world with the highest crime rate. This is
causing prisons to be overcrowded with people. Much of this is because South African
policemen are not enforcing the law. If this continues, South Africas crime will increase.
South Africa is the 9th country with the most crimes in the world. (Alfred,
Charlotte) Many of the crimes start out as one incident but then turns to another incident
like rape and physical assault that can lead to murder. These are also the highest crimes
committed in South Africa. South Africa has about 50 deaths a day from violent crimes.
(Jackson, Tom) The average murder rate for the world is about 7.6 per 100,000 people.
The murder rate for South Africa is 36.5 per 100,000 people. (Did you know) Other high
crimes are mugging, gang attacks and hijacking.
People who are most targeted in South Africa are usually poor people or people
who come to visit. In the last five years, South Africa has been one of the top tourist
destinations due to its natural beauty. (Tours, Lark)

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Even though South Africa has earned one of the top destinations it has earned a
reputation for being very dangerous due to its crime. Tourist are among the most targeted
in South Africa. Street robberies are where tourist are usually hit. (Did you know) Visitors
may face risk when visiting but with the proper precautions, a trip to South Africa should
be safe and enjoyable.
Drugs are also a huge concern in South Africa. There are a approximate of 400
drug related crimes reported daily. (Did you know) South Africas drug consumption is
twice the world norm. Marijuana, cocaine and heroin are some of the drugs that have
become very popular in the last few years. According to South Africa Police Station
(SAPS), 60% of crimes nationally were related to substance abuse due to drugs. The
illegal drug trade makes South Africa about $3 Billion in the global drug industry. Which
also increases deaths throughout which causes the many deaths each year. Dagga aka
Marijuana is one of the leading drugs in South Africa. In 2008 3.2 Billion people were
doing Dagga, the use has increased 20% in the last five years. (Tours, Lark)
With all the crime going on the government has been an increase of police
stations in South Africa with around 1118 total stations. (Did you know) The SAPS have a
new challenging objective with ensuring they bring the crime rate down. The country had
slowly whittled down its murder rate since 1995, but this year's marginal increase raised
fears that the battle against crime have stalled. President of South Africa, Jacob Zuma has
stated that there is no easy way to reduce the crime, but promises to boost the policemen
from 183,000 to 205,000 in the next three years. (Newham, Gareth)

Beaty 3
Crime in South Africa may make people second guess themselves about whether
to visit the country. Everyone there must be aware of their surroundings to make sure
they do not become a victim of rape or murder. Drugs are a huge problem over all in the
world. Society has to come together and fight the use and sell of illegal drugs. All of
these crimes destroy people and make nice places like South Africa not want to be visited
by people.

Works Cited
Alfred, Charlotte. "These 10 Countries Have The World's Highest Murder Rates."The World

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Post. The Huffington Post, 4 Oct. 2014. Web. 1 Dec. 2015.
<http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2014/04/10/worlds-highest-murderrates_n_5125188.html>.
"Did you know?." Crime Stats Simplified. n.p., Web. 16 Nov. 2015.
<http://www.crimestatssa.com/didyouknow.php>.
Newham, Gareth. "Release of South African Crime Statistics Highlights Policy Contradictions."
Institute of Social Studies. ISS, 22 Sept. 2010. Web. 1 Dec. 2015. <https://www.issafrica.org/isstoday/release-of-south-african-crime-statistics-highlights-policy-contradictions>.
Tours, Lark. "The Truth About Crime in South Africa." Lark Tours Africa Beckons. Lark Tours,
Web. 1 Dec. 2015.
<http://larktours.com/truth-about-crime-south-africa>.