MODALIDADES DE ALIMENTACIÓN Y ESTADO NUTRICIONAL

Another way of illustrating the hold that violent crime has on South Africa is to look at the government‟s anti-crime expenditure as well as the private security sector. Table 5.3 shows how the South African government has increased spending on police services, the law courts and prisons:

Table 5.3 Anti-crime expenditure 1994/1995 and 2013/2014 Expenditure 1994-1995 2013-2014 Change Police services 10.2 74.1 626% Law courts 1.6 16.5 931% Prisons 2.6 18.8 623% Total 4.4 Rbn 109.4 Rbn 660%

Total government expenditure 148.2 Rbn 1149.3 Rbn 676%

Data from the SAIRR (2014:747). Multiply expenditure by 10 for the US dollar amount.

Government expenditure on the country‟s crime-fighting institutions has increased, in real terms and as a percentage of overall expenditure.94 There have been many attempts to

94_{The increased expenditure on crime-fighting does of course come at the expense of social services (Pelser &} De Kock, 2000:89).

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strengthen and modernise police and detective work. Training has been provided to the police to enable them to address a variety of crimes including violence against women and children as well as occult-related crimes (SAPS, 2014b:60). The SAPS has made a point of initiating anti-crime awareness campaigns, especially with regards to crimes against women and children. The reinstated Family Violence, Child Protection and Sexual Offences (FCS) Units have had some success in fighting crime – having convicted 3 718 people, sentenced to a total of 51 631 years imprisonment (including 659 life sentences) (SAPS, 2014:10).

Despite the government‟s attempts to address crime, problems persist. According to Du Plessis and Louw (2005:435-436), the work load of the justice system has increased dramatically, but human resources and performance have not kept pace. Allegations of police abuse sited above is not the sole problem. Police have continued to struggle with internal corruption and the SAPS has remained short of staff, badly trained and ill equipped (criminals are often better armed than police) (US Department Of State, 2013:2-10).

Furthermore, despite access to social workers, mental health professionals and religious counselling, police officers are negatively affected by the violence and loss they experience on a daily basis. Members of the SAPS also suffer from poor remuneration and the bad reputation they have with the public, who often regard them with suspicion and contempt. As a consequence police morale is low and many officers – especially specialist investigators – leave the service to work in the private sector (Singh, 2004:92-94).

Similar problems plague the other institutions of justice: the work load of South Africa‟s understaffed and underfunded courts are such that legal proceedings can continue for years without reaching a conclusion (Du Plessis et al., 2007:535). South Africa has a high number of pre-trial prisoners (over 48 000 in the 2012-2013 period) and these defendants may face prolonged detention while awaiting trails that are frequently delayed. The high rate of pre- trial detention is attributed to the high number of arbitrary arrests that occur as well as poor case preparation and unaffordable bail tariffs (US Department Of State, 2013:11-12). Most defendants (approximately 60%) are not convicted. In fact, the overall conviction rate in South Africa may be as low as 10.3% due to inadequate evidence collection and investigation as well as long and ineffective court proceedings. More than half of the roughly two million criminal cases reported in South Africa every year are not resolved.

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The country‟s prisons are also under pressure: about 28% of correction centres are overcrowded, with many prisoners having less than 13 squares of living space.95 The

overcrowding as well as poor ventilation aides the spread of disease. Adequate medical care is not always available (US Department Of State, 2013:1-22). There have also been cases of prisoners being attacked and even tortured and raped by prison guards. During 2012-2013, 3 101 hearings were held regarding offences committed by prison staff and 121 employees were dismissed. Prison conditions amount to a violation of prisoners‟ basic human rights (to which South Africans are largely unsympathetic) (Peté, 2006:429-430).

Policies meant to address crime are therefore not always effectively implemented and do not always achieve their goals (Cawthra, 2005:104). According to Posel (2005:247), violent crime is interpreted by the public as a failure of political leadership. There is thus an

occasional defensive reluctance on the part of government to publish information or engage with civil society with regards to crime (Cawthra, 2005:100-102). Despite the increased spending seen in Table 5.3, the perception remains that the country‟s justice system is under- resourced and unresponsive and simply not capable of arresting, convicting and incarcerating criminals (Louw, 1997:141). Additionally, some argue that South Africa‟s “war against crime” (Cawthra, 2005:100) is geared more towards managing crime instead of preventing it.

South Africa‟s large private security industry can perhaps be seen as an indictment on the government‟s attempt to cope with violent crime. According to the SAIRR (2014:790) there were 4 437 private security companies in 1997, which has increased to 8 144 in 2014. These businesses include armed response, cash-in-transit and general guarding services. Figure 5.2 below illustrates the size and growth of South Africa‟s public and private security forces. In 1997 the private security sector resembled the SAPS in size: there were 115 331 registered guards and 110 177 police. However, while the private sector has grown to over four times its earlier size – registering 487 058 guards in 2014 – the SAPS experienced only modest growth: there being only 153 116 police officers in 2014 (SAIRR, 2014:790).

95_{South Africa incarcerates about 4 out of every 1 000 people – one of the highest rates of incarceration in the} world (Peté, 2006:449). As may be expected given the discourse on masculinity and crime, almost 98% of South African prisoners are male. The pressure on South African prisons is periodically relieved with special remissions of sentence. For example, 35 506 prisoners were released in March 2012 by special permission of the president (SAIRR, 2014:771-775).

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There is thus more than three times as many private security guards in South Africa than police officers: the ratio of police to the population is 1:35396 and the ratio of private security guards to the population is 1:111. The UN recommends a police-to-population ratio of 1:450 (SAPS, 2014a:1). South Africa is therefore not far behind the UN standard and yet South Africans believe that this is not sufficient. The demand for security appears to be indicative of an extremely fearful and insecure society.

Figure 5.2 Public and private security officers 1997-2014

Data from the SAIRR (2014:790).