Not many people realize this, but South Africa is one of the most, if not THE MOST violent place on earth. According to one article, there were an average of 65 murders EACH DAY in 1998. Think about that the next time the press harps about how many U.S. troops are being killed in Iraq.
Murder stats in South Africa, from a Gun Control Web Site!
Crimes stats on South Africa from an anti-voilence South African web site
This is a link to a MS Word Document put out by the Christian Action Organization. It is a MUST READ to understand the problem of unreported violent crime in SA, and how things are even worst than what is officially reported.
One highlight from the aboved mentioned source:
While police crime statistics show there were 21,683 murders in 2000, the MRC [Medical Research Council] puts the figure at 32,482.
21,683 murders for a country supposedly "at peace" is a HUGE number. The real figure of 32,482 is outrageous. Compare that to the numbers of troops who have been killed in Iraq since the beginning of the war.
The reason I'm intersted in this stuff is because I know two couples who used to live in South Africa. One couple is Amercian, and simply decided it was time to come home. The other couple are natives of SA, and they left because they KNOW there is no future for their children (let alone themselves) if they were to stay.
I used to post the murder stats, but gave up. SA is a much more deadly and violent place since Mandela took over and has grown increasingly worse under Thabo Mbeki. Most of those murders are black on black, BTW.
Your South African friends are very lucky to have gotten out.It is NOT an easy thing to do.