Indian South Africans are bearing the brunt of crime in South Africa, according to a national survey.
In the survey it is also revealed that close to 90 percent of whites, Indians and coloureds believe that very little, or nothing at all, was being done about crime by the government and about 60 percent of their black countrymen agreed with them.
This is according to a study conducted by Markinor for the Institute of Security Studies on the perceptions of crime and violence in South Africa.
The report concludes that Indians were the minority group bearing the brunt of criminal activities with at least 66 percent of Indian adults questioned knowing someone who had been a victim of crime.
Whites followed with 56 percent of adults questioned saying they were aware of someone who had been a victim of crime.
Only 32 percent of all blacks questioned knew someone who was a victim of crime and coloureds appeared to be the group least affected by crime, with only 31 percent saying they knew someone who was a victim.
The report suggests that this perception of crime by the Indian community may have left the community feeling disempowered and disregarded.
Recently-released official SAPS crime statistics also showed that Indian communities were under siege, particularly by hijackers, with three of KwaZulu-Natal’s five top hotspots being predominantly Indian areas.
Phoenix, Chatsworth and Isipingo all recorded extremely high hijacking figures between April last year and March this year.
Minority Front caucus leader in eThekwini, Jayraj Singh, said there was a lot of complacency in the Indian community and residents did not want to fight crime together.
“There is a lot of apathy in the community but to a certain extent the SAPS are to blame for having a laissez-faire approach to crime,” he said.
Singh said the apartheid design which had Indian and coloured communities as buffer zones between suburbs and townships had also contributed to crime.
The report also showed that as many as four in every five Indians believed crime was on the increase.
At least 77 percent of all whites questioned felt the same way. This by far exceeded the scores attained among coloureds and blacks with 67 percent of the coloured population feeling crime was on the increase and only 54 percent of the black population concurring that crime was up.
Markinor research executive Stephano Radaelli, who conducted the survey together with Mari Harris, a Markinor director, said Indians and whites might be feeling more prone to property crime or robbery and see themselves more vulnerable to losing their possessions.
The survey reveals that 60 percent of South Africans have done nothing to address crime in their communities.
Whites are apparently doing the most to fight crime with more than 70 percent making some sort of effort.
Black people are doing the least to fight crime with 70 percent of those surveyed doing nothing at all followed by Indians, who despite being the most affected, have as much as 61 percent of their community members doing nothing to fight the problem, while 58 percent of coloureds surveyed said they were not making any attempt to curb crime.
Overall only 4 percent of South Africans have taken an active role against crime by either becoming police reservists or by taking part in community forum
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