[I am going to defy everybody and say that despite what Mbeki said, that CRIME WILL GET WORSE! Let me explain…

So President Mbeki finally did mention crime in his State of the Nation address. But even the many other political parties said that it was good talk but it needs to be translated into action. Tony Leon said that the Govt needed to show resolve to actually get something done.

Everyone agreed that Mbeki failed to make crime the Government’s #1 Priority. Crime to Mbeki is just another problem and not the MAIN PROBLEM which is ripping this country apart.

Mbeki said he would bring in an additional 30,000 Police between now and 2010 or so. It sounds pretty impressive at first, but in reality it doesn’t mean much.

We already have approximately 140,000 Police. Mbeki’s proposal will result in 7,500 additional Police per annum. That’s not a lot. Remember too in the past that when the ANC brought in more Police, that they actually gave a large proportion of them DESK JOBS! So that’s not to say there will be 7,500 Bobbies on the beat. It might end up being, say, 4,000 additional Police on the beat per annum in a country of over 45 million people.

Mbeki says he’ll build more prisons. But that means nothing.

Remember what I’ve said many times: The most crucial problem of all is not the catching of criminals (they’re catching plenty) – it is the fact that their sentences are being cut and they’re being let out on to the streets by the tens of thousands.

The most crucial element in sorting out crime is the one thing nobody is discussing – and that is the fact that the law is too soft on crime and the judicial system is a total joke. A criminal gets 5 years, but he’ll probably be out in 1-2 years. Criminals are serving, so it seems to me, only about 1/3rd of the sentence they’re given.

Yes, we could do with more Police. And we could do with better Police. But even if Mbeki hired another 50,000 Police in the next year… it would not solve the basic problem that the criminals are being put back on to the street at a phenomenal rate.

So I’m going to put my money firmly on the bet that says: CRIME WILL GET WORSE UNDER MBEKI’S RULE! Do not expect anything materially to change.

When they want to – they can catch criminals fast. When that historian Rattray was murdered and the whole world knew about it, they caught and put the criminal scumbag on trial and sentenced him within ONE WEEK!

But the ANC have always been a fake organisation who only do things to fool the public. So they catch one criminal, make it look good, meanwhile tens of thousands of others walk free.

Mbeki has no desire, as far as I can tell, to solve the crime problem. I still think, that the mega-crime wave is WHAT THE ANC WANTS. They want to drive us out of this country, and the ANC has ZERO INTENTION OF SOLVING THE CRIME PROBLEM.

What is fascinating is how there is a huge outcry… which includes Big Business and the Mass Media. Everyone is starting to whine about it – OPENLY. Crime is killing us all, and is destroying this country. But I have always believed that the ANC doesn’t give a damn. Crime is its secret weapon. It will therefore be most interesting to see as the Liberal “white dominated” Business/Media establishments clash with the ANC.

Can the Liberals control the ANC? I don’t believe so. But it will be very interesting to watch.

I am finding wishy-washy Mbeki’s hard-assed stance on Crime, AIDS, etc very interesting. Maybe Mbeki isn’t as wishy washy as I thought. He might be a more hard-assed white-hating scumbag than I thought. Jan]