Crime comes home

I seem to have made a slight error of judgement. I have been concentrating so much on the beauty, in trying to find some balance to the insanity that surrounds me, that I have forgotten the other side of reality.

Today my 82 year old mother and her housekeeper were held up at gunpoint in their driveway by two thugs. My mother’s jewelry was ripped off her, the housekeeper was thrown to the ground and stood on, on two separate occasions. They stole my mother’s car keys and the gadget that opens her automated gate. They stole two mobile phones. They threatened to kill my mother and her housekeeper. Thank god that my mother and her housekeeper weren’t seriously harmed, but they are traumatized beyond measure and most likely will have to deal with what so many South Africans live with on a daily basis - Post Traumatic Stress Syndrome. We pretty much all live with it, all the time, but for those who've been attacked, it is that much worse, because one's worst fears become reality - and under brutal circumstances.

We have always joked that my mother’s home is like Fort Knox, it is so well secured – but even all the security couldn’t have prevented this crime. For this is the nature of crime in South Africa – if the thugs want something, they will get it. In this instance they will sell my mother’s jewelry for a fraction of it’s true value and buy Crystal Meth - methamphetamine, or, as it is called here, Tik. They will get high and hyped and then they will attack someone else, and again, the proceeds of the robbery will be used to buy yet more Tik. Drug abuse is one of the most common causes of crime in this city and in South Africa per se - and there seems to be no end in sight - particularly when government seems intent upon not acting.

Last week my mother’s neighbours were held up at gunpoint in their driveway. There were 36 incidents of crime in my neighbourhood in January - including 17 house break-ins.

The headlines in today’s newspaper read, “Survivor describes horror attack after mountain run” and refers to an incident that took place last week when a young mother of two was brutally attacked and nearly raped whilst training for a marathon. There was also an article which warned home-owners to be especially vigilant in their driveways since these have become the most common places for attacks to take place - exactly as happened to my mom.

What makes all of this so worse is that criminals are almost "protected". Homeowners may not shoot an intruder unless the intruder first shoots them. To shoot an intruder means going to jail - as though you, the victim, are the criminal.

I spent the entire afternoon sorting out new security arrangements for my mom, getting her car key immobilized, organizing an armed guard to be on duty for the entire weekend, day and night, sorting out insurers, arranging for electric fencing to be put right around her perimeter, dealing with the police – who, I must say, were absolutely amazing. And then I came home to find someone had ripped off and stolen the trellises that support the creeper on my external perimeter wall – making it now much easier to jump over said wall – which is what they did at my mom’s place – despite the fact that the wall is six foot high and has spikes on top.

I may like to show you the beauty of the place where I live - for it is truly beautiful - but that beauty walks hand in hand with the most atrocious violence and ugliness - and that taints everything around us, indeed, makes a mockery of all that is wonderful. It is hard, in situations such as these, to keep a balanced perspective. One tries, but then one wonders if one is just kidding oneself. Bear in mind, it's not just crime and violence that are issues here - but there are a range of other things, as I allued to in my post of 2 February.

Although I went for a walk today and took some stunning shots of the beauty around me - I am not going to post them here - not today. If you want to see them, please follow the link to my flickr account in the sidebar.

I wish you peace and safety. For those of you who live without the horror that we live with every day - please don't take what you have for granted.