http://www.southafricaiscrap.blogspot.com/
While the world
fixates upon the war in Lebanon, and the ‘high’ causality rate incurred by
bombing, aircraft strafing, missiles and ground fire in that country, it
occurred to me to try and find out how many people had been killed in that
conflict so far.
According to the Washington
Post, Tuesday, July 18, 2006, 5:52pm., there have been 250 people killed in
that conflict since the serious outbreak of hostilities last Wednesday. That is
250 dead in six days, or 41 per day.
Now, according to the South
African Police Services statistics for 2004 – the latest ones I could find,
you know, they don’t release them any more because they ‘give the wrong
impression’ -- there were 19,824 murders in South Africa in the 2003/2004 year.
Without even getting into the debate of whether we can trust the SAPS figures,
I did a quick sum: 19,824 murders in one year: let’s see now: 19,824 divided by
365 days gives you 54 murders per day, and six days (54 x 6) gives you 324
murders in the last six days – at least.
The conclusion: you have more chance of being murdered in South Africa than you have of being killed in the war in Lebanon.
That, more than anything else, puts this god-awful country in perspective,
all you happy “good news South Africa” bunnies.