Hmmm... Not quite sure what to make of this. Yes, violent crime is relatively high in South Africa. Yes, Hout Bay has been badly affected, surely not helped by an informal settlement being in the middle of an otherwise affluent area. Listening to the Hout Bay Neighbourhood Watch* radio will probably give you the creeps if the highest level of crime youve ever experienced is Göttingen. But anecdotes dont make data. You could go to large cities just about anywhere and interview a few people who happen to have had traumatic experiences at the hands of violent criminals. I was hoping theyd have put themselves out on patrol with Neighbourhood Watch or something, but seems not? Plus, this seems to have been supported (and maybe financed?) by a company selling security equipment, whod obviously benefit from selling a few more devices. voicealert.co.za/bp.php (linked from the video itself) So, yes, theres a problem here, though I dont think the level of awareness is particularly low. But I dont think that fixing the problem starts with all potential victims of crime buying a VoiceAlert system. I still wouldnt disadvise any reasonably sensible person from visiting South Africa for a holiday. If you know better than to hang out in bad parts of London or Paris, youll be just fine. PS: Great aerial shots of Hout Bay! :) * Also, if Neighbourhood Watch makes you think of friendly people from the community asking around to make sure everythings okay and that Mrs Smith doesnt make so much noise at 22:25, think again... ;)
Posted on: Fri, 21 Mar 2014 07:15:33 +0000
Trending Topics
Recently Viewed Topics
© 2015