WARNING: This is Version 1 of my old archive, so Photos will NOT work and many links will NOT work. But you can find articles by searching on the Titles. There is a lot of information in this archive. Use the SEARCH BAR at the top right. Prior to December 2012; I was a pro-Christian type of Conservative. I was unaware of the mass of Jewish lies in history, especially the lies regarding WW2 and Hitler. So in here you will find pro-Jewish and pro-Israel material. I was definitely WRONG about the Boeremag and Janusz Walus. They were for real.
Original Post Date: 2008-05-08 Time: 00:00:00 Posted By: Jan
Crime on the campuses of South African universities and colleges, where there have in recent years been cases of murder, rape, robbery and theft, is cause for great concern.
But this problem is not peculiar to tertiary education institutions and must be seen against the wider background of criminal activity among young people in general.
This is the view of a panel who discussed the topic: “Are there worrying trends of criminal activity at tertiary institutions?” on SAfm Radio’s After Eight Debate.
“This is not an isolated issue, but relates to a national crisis of young people involved in criminal activities,” said Babalwa Ntabeni-Matutu, Director of Higher Education, Constitutional Affairs for the national Department of Education.
| ‘It is a process that is going to take a long time’ |
Matutu said it seemed some young people were getting involved in criminal activities on campus as a means of getting luxuries, such as cellphones.
She said the problem could be solved only through the co-operation of both students and security officials on campus. There had been reports, she said, of students refusing to co-operate, for instance, when asked for their identity cards.
Matutu hoped that, with the recapitalisation of the higher institutions of learning, there would be an improvement in the security situation.
“This is not going to be a process where we are going to see changes in a year or two,” she said. “It is a process that is going to take a long time.”
Her views were largely supported by Edwin Smith, director of the Mamelodi campus of the University of Pretoria.
| ‘some students were drawn to crime because of poverty’ |
He said there had been several cases of assault and theft on his campus, but the reports on the issue only told of these few incidents and did not mention the 50 000 law-abiding students. “To suggest we have a crisis on campus is a bit dramatic.”
Smith said unfortunately all the students who were doing well at the university did not grab the headlines, only those who “fell through the cracks”.
His university was, however, taking “serious measures” to deal with the problem. He felt some students were drawn to crime because of poverty, which remained a serious problem among students.
“We are dealing with a multi-layered problem, one that is very complex, and it needs all stakeholders to get involved.”
The problem was a serious one throughout the country, agreed the president of the SA Union of Students, Lucky Phosa.
He said the Durban University of Technology had taken positive steps to combat crime by having plain-clothes security officials on campus, and suggested other tertiary institutions should consider similar action.
Phosa said most students had to contend with the problems of crime on their campuses.
“The crimes are not necessarily committed by students only,” he said.
“Other members of society get access to the campuses.”
He felt there was a lack of proper security on many campuses.