Crime!!!! Have you ever.....?

Where do you want me to start?!

You say you don´t want to know about the aunty or whatever,

but I have to tell you about my friend, you see he can´t tell you his story because he´s dead.

He moved down to Cape Town from East London and opened a restaurant in Observatory. One day, about 4 years back, some guys came into the restaurant just before opening time, pushed him into the toilet and shot him through the head for R200.

Then there´s my close friend´s sister (we have been friends since primary school), she can´t tell anyone about her story because she´s too f&ckt-up! She was raped last year on a beach in Cape Town while walking her dog.

She is seeing a psychiatrist but that does not seem to be helping as she has already tried to take her life once.

In the two years before we left SA I had my car stolen, (outside Kirstenbosch gardens on a Sunday when they have the concerts, it was in a pay to park area with security gaurds and the car had an alarm), my wife had her car stolen, a friend of my wife got raped, our duplex got burgalled.

On previous ocassions I have been mugged, had 2 bicycles stolen, been knocked over by a black taxi while cycling (I like my cycling), had cellphones stolen etc etc etc

I once even caught one of 3 guys (at a risk to my own life) who were busy stealing my moms car radio by breaking into her garage.

The police took him away, and I saw him the following week walking in front of the old Marconi Beam squatter camp in Milnerton.

One of the previous answerers suggested moving to smaller towns, however that, I believe, is just delaying the inevitable.

Crime in SA will follow where there is money.

I have seen how in the once beautiful sleepy town of Knysna in the E Cape it is now no longer safe to walk in the streets at night time.

There is no escaping crime in SA, it will eventually catch up with you, wherever you live and whatever amount of money you earn. Íf it doesn´t effect someone you love first.

Either something is going to be done to combat crime or not,

So far the writing on the wall ......has been stolen.

Oh where shall I start? Living in Hillbrow I saw two guys throwing a man over a balcony ten floors to his death. I saw a man stabbed to death with a bicycle spoke. There was a bomb blast at the Three Sisters cafe across the road from the building I lived in. A Zulu speaking colleague was killed when he got on the wrong train coach at Jo' burg station.

Moving to Durban my house was burgled three times. The last time they went through the back wall of the kitchen because I replaced all my doors with steel ones and the windows were the bullet proof type.They tried to steal my car at a friends place but it was a BMW and they could not start it.

A friend of mine's wallet got stolen and the thieves got his adress from it and also saw in his I.D. that he was a gun owner. They went to his house and killed his wife and young son. They were caught and was only between the ages off fourteen and seveteen. Thats when I decided to leave.

A week after my Matric dance , we went away for the night and on returning to our home the next morning discovered the entire house had been cleaned out. Everything from Curtains to Mattresses -GONE!!

I was particularly devastated that my Matric dance dress had been stolen. Somehow that was the thing i missed the most (odd).

Also had my car broken into outside a nightclub once, and another time in my parking bay at my flat. They could not get the radio out and pulled all the panels off .All they stole was my disposable camera which had no shots left and a R20 pair of sunglasses.Then to add further insult they took rubbish and threw it inside my car(frustration at not getting radio out i assume). They caused over R2000 worth of damage, but got nothing for it !! Ha ha.

oh yes i nearly forgot about the time , i was working at a restaurant on a sunday afternoon and the restaurant was robbed at gunpoint by for teenage guys. We had to give them our Cellphones and wallets.Took one of the owners to the office and hit him in the head with gun , so he would open safe(lucky for him banking had been done the day before)took the money.Then they forced us (about 13ppl)into Storage fridge and ran away. Luckily the restaurant was not open yet for business. So no Patrons where involved. The owner got Trauma counsiling for those who wanted it too.

Car stolen twice, car window smashed a few times, numerous things stolen.

I share Tsepo's approach. An aspiring burglar once made the mistake of wandering into the flat where me and 3 of my student buddies lived, while studying in Stellenbosch. He was rather rapidly and less-than-gently escorted by 4 young boerklonge down 3 floors of stairs and was lucky to escape with all limbs intact. We didn't have any problems at that abode after that...

Wish I could do the same with a few criminally racist ministers, starting with Marthinussie. Ooooooh...what fun we'll have!

No, I don't feel safe in this country-- but i'm so used to it-- i was in London 2 months ago and everytime someone walked behind me i started running... hee hee!

I've had one burglary- cleaned out! And 2 years ago, i heard a noise in my room and when i went to look there was a very young guy (about 16) who had broken the burglar bar off my window and was "fishing" for things in my room with the bar- pulling it through the window and putting it in my Oakley bag ready to run away with. He had abviously been onto our property before since he knew exactly what was in my room and knew how to take the burglar bars off etc. My dogs (2 bordercollies) were in the house with me and didn't even notice either... Thank goodness i walked in on time cos he ran off and got away with my Oakley bag and deodorant which was in the bag! Luckily he didn't get my hi-fi which he had dangled by the handle on the burglar bar when i walked in. BASTARD!

Ja, it's a sad state... I wish it would get better. Our country is so beautiful!

The crime in this country just stresses me out...i mean we cannot even walk alone on the beach at nite coz we might get raped, robbed, stabbed,etc. Its unbelievable!!!! Well, yes I did get robbed once when i was walking in town(durban) with one of my friends. We were studying at campus, which is unfortunately in town. My friend and i were walking and I had a light bag which was behind my back. When suddenly a black guy bumped into me and then another guy pushed me from the side. I suddenly stopped and turned around and they rushed off! I turned to look at my bag and to my horror it was slashed and my cellphone had been gone! I will never forget that day..i cried and cried and my phone was gone...just like that! The police didnt help much...coz they werent around! I was devestated! Why are blacks mostly ruining lives, killing innocent people who work hard for their money...it's so sad and depressing. I am soon going to leave this country and never come back to this dump! Crime is just going to get worse and as for the president...well is an ***! We are not even safe in our own homes and I dont ever feel safe at night or even when we stop at the robot...we always gotta be on the lookout. It's scarry..I feel sorry for all the people coming to watch the soccer in 2010..its going to be chaos. Every black person i see...looks suspicious..coz they always seem to be looking and waiting. Im not racist but there are mostly blacks doing this to our country and making it a very unsafe place to live in...so much for world peace!:(

I haven't really been affected by crime, my clothes were stolen from the washing line once, but I guess that's my fault for forgetting it outside over night.

I'm a little paranoid though, but I don't mind - it keeps me alert and I can recall an incident were I avoided a definite hijacking because of it. I ran a red light, but it saved my car and maybe my life.

I haven't personally been affected. I was almost smash&grabbed, but I ALWAYS leave a car's length in front of me and managed to pull away as soon as the face appeared at my window.

I was also almost hijacked once - the car stopped in my blind spot and guys started getting out of it. I pulled off immediately, and they got back into their car.

If you want to hear about my brother having a gun in his gut for his shoes... and similar such stories... then yell - I have a ton of them.

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EDIT: I forgot that I've had my car broken into three times.

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I've twice had guys try to "pull me into the bushes" on my early morning walks. The last got his nose pulverized by my flying fists of fury!

We've had our car broken into twice so far when we were in Durban and only the fact that she is such a crotchety old thing to get started, saved her from being spirited away!

We've also had a cellphone stolen from a guy who just leaned into the front window and stole the phone right out of its charger!

So far that's all.

So far.

I think one of the worst could be something bad done to you as a child by someone you and your family trusted...

Its so sad when parents cant trust children with their uncles, God fathers (even Dads) and brothers...

After this, my mom never trusted anyone to babysit me after school or when she wasnt there. She simply sewed a key into my pre school bag, drummed the same instruction into my head every morning...."Lock the gate, lock the butler, lock the door, watch cartoons, dont let anyone in until mommy and daddy come back from work".... Until she found a trustworthy old woman with 2 older grandaughters to look after me.