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‘SA GOVT DESERVES MORE CREDIT’
p2 | Mandela thanks UK government in letter published for first time
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p8 | Cape Wine Academy launches in London
Jonny Steinberg on future of SA politics: ‘It’s obvious why majority continues to vote ANC’
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Murder rate down 50% 66% of South Africans happy with police service Average income increased 35% over last decade
by HEATHER WALKER
VIOLENCE in South Africa is clearly out of control, the police are doing a bad job – it’s surely irrational and foolish to keep voting for Jacob Zuma and the ANC, right? Or is this simply the perception of those of us from the leafy suburbs? What if we try to understand South Africa from another perspective? This was Jonny Steinberg’s argument in his talk entitled The Future of SA Politics, delivered at the monthly SA Chamber of Commerce meeting in London last week. “In South Africa we live on different planets. Part of understanding SA is putting ourselves in the shoes of people very different to us,” he said. “This may come as a surprise but South Africa’s murder rate has in fact declined by 50% in just over a decade. It’s hard to explain why. There are few places in the world where that has happened. Yet it’s hard for the middle class to see because it hasn’t affected them. The majority of people murdered in SA are black and unemployed, living in squatter camps and townships. “But for first time in SA history, the middle class are experiencing
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TRETCHIKOFF FOR SALE: The original painting ‘Chinese Girl’ by Tretchikoff, said to be the most widely reproduced and recognisable picture in the world, goes on sale at Bonhams of London on 20 March. Read more on page 11.
violence in ways they never have before. They are being murdered by car-jackers and house invaders. “SA is a very violent society, but not more violent than 10 years ago. It’s a diverse place, one person says violence is clearly down, another says it’s obviously up.”
The South African author and Oxford University lecturer said this was why in a recent national survey, most South Africans said they were happy with the police. “The first large sample independent victim survey in SA history, undertaken by the Institute
for Security studies two years ago, found that two thirds of South Africans were happy with the way they are policed. To us that sounds bizarre and yet the reason is simple – people have long memories, they are comparing the way they are policed now to 20 years ago. Even if they weren’t born yet they hear about it from relatives.” Steinberg said most of the calls police receive and respond to are for domestic incidents such as assaults. “25 years ago the police didn’t do in black South Africa. People are responding to the fact that there has been huge change in the fabric of their daily lives. “The middle class has experienced the opposite. A police force that protected them well 25 years ago doesn’t anymore. You have these incredibly divergent experiences in the same country. A whole lot of people saying obviously the police service has improved; another group saying obviously it is falling apart.” Steinberg said that before the last general election in 2009 the ANC commissioned polls on voting preferences of black people in Gauteng. The results found that of black people earning less than R4,000 (£293) a month, 80% said they’d vote ANC, while half of those earning R7,000 or more said they’d vote ANC. Steinberg commented, “The poorer people were the more likely they’d align themselves to the ruling party (yet let it be said that Continued on page 3
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