South Africans Protest Over Crime

Crime victims staged an angry protest in South Africa on Tuesday after the government suggested those who "whinged" about levels of murder and rape should emigrate.

Demonstrators said the number of assaults and armed robberies was unacceptable and had turned daily life into a lottery, with 51 murders and 151 rapes recorded daily.

They were responding to the safety and security minister, Charles Nqakula, who implied in a parliamentary debate this month that those who complained about crime were unpatriotic moaners.

"They can continue to whinge until they're blue in the face, be as negative as they want to, or they can simply leave this country so that all of the peace-loving South Africans, good South African people who want to make this a successful country, can continue with their work."

The comments provoked outrage from relatives of murder victims and survivors of assaults who filled newspapers and airwaves with tales of violence and incompetent policing. "Where, honourable minister, do you propose I go?" asked a letter writer to a newspaper, saying she had been raped and mugged and was now paralysed by fear.

Tuesday's protest was held outside a court where nine men were on trial charged with bludgeoning a 78-year-old woman to death in her home and raping her 25-year-old pregnant neighbour. The attacks, which took place last month at Gordon's Bay, a beauty spot in the Western Cape, followed a series of high-profile incidents, including the killing of a judge's granddaughter and the rape of her nanny.

Dozens of people held placards urging the minister to apologise for his remarks. Fanie le Roux, a relative of the murdered pensioner, said he had not beeb placated by Mr Nqakula's explanation that the whingeing reference was directed at opposition members of parliament and not South Africans in general.

International comparisons are difficult but there is no doubt South Africa is one of the world's most violent countries. A United Nations survey suggested it had the third highest murder rate, after Colombia and Swaziland.

Experts blame poverty, unemployment, overstretched policing and the legacy of white minority rule, which damaged the social structure of the black majority. The government says South Africa is becoming safer and cites official statistics that the murder rate has fallen from more than 20,000 a year to 18,615. Critics say the figures are unreliable.

There have been calls for South Africa to reinstate the death penalty, which was abolished with apartheid.