CRIME MUST FALL

Sir,

It is now obvious even to a child that the crime rate in our country has reached alarming levels which can now be compared to our neighbour South Africa. Swaziland had been a very safe country overall in terms of crime in the past. Tourists are robbed, housebreaking cases are on the rise, ATM bombings, the list is endless, and most are now committed with guns.

A lot of these crime incidents are reported in the media, and of concern is the use of guns in most of these incidents but we have not seen or heard any urgent statement coming from government condemning these acts and committing themselves to bring most if not all culprits to book.
It is sad that the nation has to live in fear of a minority as this is a small group; the majority of Swazis are hardworking, trying to make ends meet.
The police concentrate on catching drink-drivers, we agree with this for the nation’s safety on roads but they should also treat burglaries, hijackings with the same urgency. When will we see raids on criminals who are holding the country to ransom?

Vision 2022 will not be attained at this rate. We all know investors do their research before investing in a country and one of the things they observe is crime; do we see investors coming into the country at this rate? A big no, which means unemployment will remain high.

The police should call an indaba where all communities are represented and look at forming neighborhood watch initiatives working hand in hand with the police.
These have worked very well in South Africa because it is clear that police cannot be everywhere at once, they need the assistance of the public. In this way it will also assist in identifying those in the communities who are protecting these criminals because at the end of the day, after they have committed a crime, they have to go and rest or share the spoils somewhere.

Elderly citizen

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