Skinner, you always making out as if Cape Town is this place where crime simply does not exist, and its paradise on earth. Cape Town is still part of South Africa and it suffers from the same problems as the rest of the country, lousy public service (been to home affairs or any municipal office lately), no public transport, arrogant taxi drivers (Ever driven on the N1/N2 during peak hour traffic?), sprawling squatter camps with rampage crime, Eskom problems, public violence, racisim, general disrespect for the law, AA in the workplace (no promotions) etc etc.. Before I go any further, I lived in Cape Town and have since moved to NZ because of all of its problems, including out of control crime.
As for violent crime in Cape Town, does the name Brett Goldin ring any bells? He was hijacked after leaving Camps Bay and executed. The reason this made the news was probably only because he was a celebrity. Camps Bay is very safe!
http://www.news24.com/News24/South_Africa/News/0,,2-7-1442_2118546,00.html
Yes crime is lower in Cape Town than the rest of the country in certain places, but its ridiculously high (A few places on the Atlantic seaboard where you can still be relatively safe (Camps Bay?) and even at times you can believe you are living in a first world country). Next time you drive past the Camps Bay police station, have a look at the sign on the front gate, ADT Armed response. That says a lot. I have three daughters, could I ever drop them off for a day at the beach by themselves? Would I let them go hiking by themselves in the beautiful mountains? Let them walk to school, ride bicycle down the road to the corner shop, drop them off for a day at Canal Walk shopping centre? The VNA Waterfront? No to all of those questions, Cape Town as beautiful as it is cannot be enjoyed. You are still left with the worry about the safety of your family. Wife taking the kids somewhere, breaking down in a bad area!!!??? If you live in CT, you cannot avoid those areas, you still have to drive through them. I shudder to think what would have happened to my daughters when they reached the age of going out at night, partying and enjoying life as teenagers should. What’s the use of depriving them of that? There is no way we would have allowed them out by themselves at night. Our kids now enjoy all of those things we were depriving them of in “safe” Cape Town.
I was an active member with neighbourhood watch in CT, was out every second weekend at ghastly hours just to protect the family and make our suburb a little safer! Why should I be doing that, why live in a country where the government cannot even provide safety for its own citizens? Even while doing neighbourhood watch, when on patrol I would fear for my families safety while I was just on the other side of the neighbourhood. As for some of my experiences in neighbourhood watch in Cape Town, I have seen it all. Decided to give it up when shots were fired during a chase of some suspected criminals. The neighbourhood watch cars, our own cars, started becoming targets while on patrol! We were putting ourselves at risk simply by patrolling the streets and trying to make them safer for everyone. We even had some guys handed over to the SAPS, next day they out walking the same streets again, doing their same ****. The SAPS would never come and help if we alerted them of possible suspects, same old excuses as everywhere else, no car, no petrol etc etc.
My own personal experience with crime in Cape Town, had the car broken into a few times, house broken into while we were sleeping. The buggers came through my daughter’s bedroom window while we were all sleeping. A stroke of luck on that night, daughter slept in our bedroom, something she only does very rarely. We decided to get the hell out, the camels back was now broken, It was no longer a case of “if it should happen to us”, it was “when is it going to happen to us?” We decided to not stick around and wait for that dreadful day. Stuff everyone that calls us cowards, or whatever you like. Once you have a family of your own, the future looks very bleak in SA, no matter if you staying in Cape Town or Boksburg, it’s the same. The safety of your family and their future in a normal society becomes top priority.
