Report calls for reintroduction of apartheid-era practice

Posted by Madibeng Kgwete: 10 November 2010

Two critical issues curiously escaped the media’s reporting following the release by the Centre for the Study of Violence and Reconciliation (CSVR) of a study into causes of violent crime in South Africa.

Firstly, the report explicitly fingered three groups of African nationalities as being responsible for some of the violence in the country.

The report cited “substantial evidence” implicating Zimbabweans and Mozambicans in criminal networks, including, very specifically, “cash-in-transit heists and other aggravated robberies.”

“Zimbabwean groups include some gangs that are believed to consist mainly of former policemen and soldiers, and these are believed to be linked to some of the major cash-in-transit heists,” the report says.

Nigerian nationals, on the other hand, “reportedly control approximately 80% of the cocaine trade inside South Africa, and they service most of the country except Western Cape,” according to the report.

The second critical matter that is not being mentioned in the media was a controversial call for the reintroduction of the apartheid-era practice of profiling criminal suspects according to their race.

Crime statistics released by the South African Police Service do not make reference to the race of both victims and perpetrators, apparently to avoid the use of crime statistics to reinforce racial prejudices.

The CSVR report nevertheless records “significant differences between different groups in relation to patterns of victimisation and offending”.

The CSVR concept paper, under the sub-topic, “Race crime and violent crime”, argues that it is “meaningless” to maintain that there are no significant differences in levels of offending between different communities in South Africa.