PARLIAMENT — South Africa's history of colonialisation and apartheid have created a culture where people see resorting to force as normal, reveals a report released yesterday.
"The core of the problem of violent crime in South Africa is a culture of violence and criminality," concludes the "Report on the Violent Nature of Crime in South Africa".
"The ability to operate and achieve credibility within this culture is strongly related to one's readiness to resort to extreme violence with a weapon."
The study was commissioned by the government in 2007 and conducted by the Centre for the Study of Violence and Reconciliation (CSVR).
It lists poverty, a weak criminal justice system, firearm proliferation and poor socialisation of the youth as factors that sustain a culture of violence and suggest that like any other culture, it exerts peer pressure to join in.
The report debunks the notion that aggravated robbery is mostly the work of organised crime syndicates, though this may be the case in attacks on middle-class homes or companies in the formal business sector.
Often these and other violent crimes, notably murder, are carried out by young men who are busy fashioning themselves as criminals.
"The greater part of the problem of violent crime in the metros, and particularly in townships and inner city areas, is associated with young men who tend to be invested in some kind of criminal identity and associate with like-minded people."
The report is based on research conducted in central Johannesburg, Kraaifontein, KwaMashu, Montclair, Nyanga and Thokoza.
The CSVR found that in these six areas, 31% of murder suspects in cases where the crime was carried out with criminal intent were 19 years old or younger. In cases where arguments led to murder, 21% of suspects fell into this age group.
Robberies in the streets and other public places accounted for the majority of aggravated robberies, and 13% of murder cases. The report also suggests the poor continue to bear the brunt of crime, without the benefit of intensive police focus on their plight.
Briefing MPs on the report, CSVR executive director Adele Kirsten said South Africans cannot ignore the way in which apartheid still influences all aspects of life long after the advent of democracy.
"[The report] does not imply that a group of people or the nation as a whole is inherently violent. What it wants to say is that given our history, given our experience of violence … we have begun to see violence as normative … as legitimate," she said.
"This is what makes us unique. Our migrant labour system of apartheid fundamentally destroyed families. We are living with the legacy of that."
Kirsten said she has heard people saying in the public discourse that apartheid has been gone for 15 years.
"It is not. It remains in our day-to-day interactions. It remains present in where we live, and it remains present in who is most vulnerable to be a victim of crime."
The report singles out mines as places were violence was learnt and taken into the townships. Police harassment, imprisonment and state sponsorship of violence in townships further contribute to a "culture of violence that has reproduced itself ever since", the report reads.
Its authors said the violence associated with strikes is therefore not surprising and called on political leaders to refrain from rhetoric inciting violence.
MPs on Parliament's portfolio committee on police questioned the value of the research, saying it fails to answer the fundamental question of why South Africa is so afflicted by violence.
"But what is it that is unique about South Africa?" chairperson Sindi Chikunga asked, noting that the Democratic Republic of Congo has little street crime, although it recently emerged from years of war.
Police secretary Jenni Irish-Qhobosheane said the ministry shares the same concern.
"It is not as though there was something incredibly new and striking that hit us in the face. [But] it does pull a lot of information together and from that point of view it is quite useful."
The report's chief author, Dave Bruce, countered that it is unrealistic to expect the 700-page document, which cost R3,5 million to produce, to deliver ground-breaking truths.
"The business of explaining violence is an international industry which is carried out in universities around the world.
"The international investment in explaining violence, what would it be? Possibly hundreds of millions. To expect this R3,5 million to develop a new explanation would be incredibly unrealistic."
Bruce suggested that delving into the causes of crime would only go so far towards finding a solution to the problem.
"One can talk about all kinds of causes … but to some extent violence is simply based on the fact that people think it is okay to be violent."
In The Witness
CSVR is a multi-disciplinary institute that seeks to understand and prevent violence, heal its effects and build sustainable peace at the community, national and regional levels.
