Changing Crime Rates, Changing Narratives
Crime is the domestic issue that evokes the most handwringing in South Africa, especially among a certain segment (read: affluent) of the white population. And crime certainly is bad, especially in the most highly populated areas. Virtually (and perhaps literally) all South Africans of every race and social class knows someone who has been victimized by crime, and while crime, and especially violent crime, looms large in the white South African mind, blacks are the most common victims of crime in the country.
And yet it oftentimes seems that fears of crime really represent a surrogate for a whole range of fears and insecurities over the issue of change and transformation in South Africa. The narrative about crime, in other words, tends to be more unyielding than crime itself.
It is thus important to note that there appears to have been a drop in violent crime rates in the Western Cape of 32%, which is a remarkable achievement. Obviously one wonders if some of the statistics have not been cooked (for my American readers who watched The Wire, the greatest show, certainly the greatest drama, in the history of television, this question looms especially large) but if these numbers are even remotely representative of actual conditions on the ground, South Africans should rejoice. Sometimes, after all, narratives change.