SA Crime

South Africa's UN ambassidor to the UN was robbed upon arrival, from New York, in Johannesburg on saturday night.
After Dumisani Kumalo arrived at his sons home on saturday, three men held up the ambassodor and party guests, demanding wallets, cellphones and the mr. Kumalo's luggage. A man was shot and wounded.

Sybil Seato, Inkatha Freedom Party MP, said in reaction, South Africa was losing the fight against crime. She said the effectiveness of the government's crime combating operations should be questioned in the light of recent attacks on tourists and well-known South Africans.
Seato also said it seemed that there was no war against crime.

The National Civilian Safety and Security Action (Nacissa) lobby group today urged South Africans to deduct expenditure on private security from their taxable income this year.
"The government's neglect of its duty to combat crime compels South African taxpayers to incur various expenses to make up for this neglect," spokesperson Conrad Beyers said.
The result being that South Africans pay double for ensuring their safety.
"It is hence inappropriate to pay tax for services that were not delivered by the government."
"We pay tax to pay the salaries of ministers and a president who are in denial about crime and are thereby worsening the situation," said Beyers.
According to Nacissa, South African citizens can fill in their crime related expenses on their tax forms in the section "other qualifying deductions".

Crime has affected the growth of South African tourism.
South Africa has missed out on more than 22 million potential tourists in the past five years who are worried about the high crime rate.
While speaking at the National Conference of the Southern African Association for the Conference Industry, Environmental and Tourism Minister Marthinus Van Schalkwyk cited a 2005 South African Tourism brand- tracking survey which found that 33,8 percent of a total market of 65,8 million tourists mentioned fears about safety as one reason for not visiting South Africa in the past five years.
Although South Africa has become an attractive tourist destanation, the crime statistics acts as a detterent to potential investors.

South Africa is ranked 23rd by the Union of International Associations as a top meeting destination in the world. It has set a goal of reaching the rank of 10th by 2010.

Van Shalkwyk said Safety and Security allocations had increased by 43 percent since 2003-2004 and that police resources would rise by a further 34 percent over the next three years, from R33- billion in 2006-2007 to R44-billion in 2009-2010.
"By 2010, we will have close to 190 000 police officers on our streets," he said.
"Law enforcement agencies alone cannot win the war against crime, as some of these crimes are committed within industry, by employees and owners of establishments," said Van Schalkwyk. "These include making information on tourists available to crime syndicates, theft of tourists' property in some establishments, illegal use of tourist credit cards, unlawful levy collections, illegal tour guiding and unlicensed tour operators."