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Since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic and its economic effects, crime rates in the City of Johannesburg have increased. Citizens are often complaining about being mugged, break-ins, and car-jacking. For many, this is their everyday life: living with the knowledge that anything is possible in the streets of Jozi, and that its streets are always dangerous.
“I don’t feel safe when going to work from the taxi rank in the morning. I always witness people getting mugged in broad daylight, and other people just minding their business. I don’t even have hope that this problem might be solved anytime soon,” said a 37-year-old man who works around Johannesburg’s Central Business District and preferred to remain anonymous.
“As a shop owner, I am really worried about my shop and even my life. The break-ins of shops happen on a daily basis and seeing as I don’t have any insurance for my shop, a break-in would be the end of my life because I depend on my shop to take care of my family. The police seem to be working with these [criminals] because even when the culprits are caught, you will see them wandering the streets of Jozi in the following days,” said a woman who owns a small shop in the city centre.
Is there really no hope for the City of Johannesburg? Its citizens are not convinced there is. Will the police do anything about this, or will crime continue?
This article was submitted on 21 August 2023. You may republish this article, so long as you credit the authors and Karibu! Online (www.Karibu.org.za), and do not change the text. Please include a link back to the original article.
