Grahamstown residents have reacted with disbelief to a report that you are more likely to be murdered here, in Cacadu, than anywhere else in the country.
Grahamstown residents have reacted with disbelief to a report that you are more likely to be murdered here, in Cacadu, than anywhere else in the country.
According to a South African Institute of Race Relations (SAIRR) survey due to be released this week, of every 100 000 people in the Cacadu district, 73 were killed – double the national murder rate, and almost double the provincial murder rate. In Grahamstown alone, there were 42 murders from April 2009 to March 2010.
But police have reacted cautiously to the report, and a quick survey of Grahamstown residents shows they feel a lot safer than the statistics say they should. A statement released by the SAIRR on Wednesday read: "A person in South Africa has the highest likelihood of being murdered in the Cacadu District municipality of the Eastern Cape."
Cacadu extends west to the Storms River in the Tsitsikamma, northwards to Nieu-Bethesda in the Karoo, and is bordered by Bathurst to the east. It is home to about 400 000 residents from nine local municipalities, including Makana.
The institute's survey compared 46 district municipalities and six metropolitan municipalities around the country, from April 2009 to March 2010, using four serious crime categories: murder, aggravated robbery, sexual offences, and drug-related crime; and two subcategories: robberies at business and residential premises.
But despite the fact that the report would seem to be supported by data from the South African Police Service – figures released by the SAPS in September last year reveal that in Grahamstown alone there were 42 murders during the same period as the institute's survey – provincial police have reacted with caution, and Grahamstown residents with sheer disbelief.
Adam Safil, who is unemployed, said, "I stay in the township and I don't really believe that there is more murder in the Cacadu region than anywhere else." Thembinkosi Gqabodi, a baker, said, "No, no, no, that can't be the truth. I don't believe that at all. Far more people are being murdered in Johannesburg."
Colleague Lenn Soyes agreed: "Places like Hillbrow in Johannesburg – that's where people get murdered every single day. I don't believe Cacadu can be leading in that regard."
Asanda Zumani, a security guard, said: "No I don't think Cacadu can be the leading murder district. I know that there are a lot of robberies in Grahamstown – but not murders. I think Johannesburg and Cape Town are where the most murders happen, not here."
The SAIRR statement said that of the 10 district municipalities with the highest murder rates, three were in the rural areas of the Eastern Cape; one in the Free State and five in KwaZulu-Natal. The eThekwini Metropolitan municipality, which incorporates Durban, had the third-highest murder rate of the municipalities profiled, with Xhariep second-highest. Cacadu tops the statistics.
The latter two exchanged places when it came to sexual offences, the SAIRR statement said. Despite popular perceptions to the contrary, Ekurhuleni Metropolitan municipality in Gauteng, which incorporates Johannesburg, in fact, had the lowest murder rate.
According to the institute, those most likely to be murder victims were men between the ages of 18 and 34. "The six municipalities with the highest rates of drug-related crime all came from the Western Cape," the statement read. When asked for comment, Eastern Cape SAPS spokesperson Brigadier Miranda Mills said she had neither seen nor studied the report.
Only once she had done so would she offer a comment. The institute said it used raw crime figures from SAPS and population figures from the SA Local Government Association to calculate the crime rates per 100 000 people. A detailed report is expected to be released by the SAIRR this week.
