High-Profile Attacks Put Crime On Political Radar in S. Africa

The Washington Post ^ | Saturday, February 3, 2007 | Craig Timberg

[MinorityRepublican]

JOHANNESBURG, Feb. 2 -- A series of attacks on prominent South Africans, including entertainers, business leaders and a renowned historian, has pushed a contentious, racially charged debate over crime to the center of the country's political agenda as lawmakers begin their new parliamentary year in Cape Town.

In the past two weeks, gunmen killed Anglo-Zulu war expert David Rattray, robbers gashed open the head of Afrikaner rock star Anton Goosen and two men shot Alan MacKenzie, an official for the group Business Against Crime, according to news reports. Goosen and MacKenzie survived.

South African crime crosses the country's myriad ethnic lines, with majority blacks victimized most of all. But the headline-grabbing power of incidents against well-known whites has polarized the discussion over how to address violent crime rates that are among the highest in the world.

"There are white people who view crime as a measure of the ability of a black government to manage a modern state," said Aubrey Matshiqi, a political analyst.

The ruling African National Congress, which has dominated South African politics since the fall of apartheid in 1994, issued a statement Jan. 8 citing crime as among the country's top problems. President Thabo Mbeki's top policy adviser, Joel Netshitenzhe, said Friday that it remained a priority as the president crafts his State of the Nation speech, to be delivered to Parliament on Feb. 9. The implementation of crime-fighting strategies and the government's communications on the problem are under review.

"It's high on the political agenda," Netshitenzhe said, speaking from Pretoria.

But analysts said Mbeki has handled the issue awkwardly, making defensive comments in which he has acknowledged that crime is serious but argued that fears of it are overblown.

[Wally_Kalbacken]

He-he. They said "Netshitenzhe". He-he.

[OSHA]

"There are white people who view crime as a measure of the ability of a black government to manage a modern state," said Aubrey Matshiqi, a political analyst.

Fixed her racist blather.