An article in a major newsweekly characterized South Africa as emerging from "a post-apartheid slump with a high-growth budget and Olympian hopes."
Yet the country is suffering not only from the wounds of the past, but from growing societal problems. Every day, on average, brings 300 robberies, 65 murders and 66 rapes. Also in 1996 some 2.4 million people were diagnosed as HIV-positive, a rise of about one third between 1995 and 1996.
Just as serious, in one sense, is that "3,000 policemen were investigated last year," and "25 percent of the upper echelons of the police force have criminal records." The government will have to act courageously if it is to rid the nation of rampant crime, corruption and maladministration. Some encouraging signs are emerging. For instance, the cabinet recently decided that murderers, rapists, robbers, hijackers and drug traffickers must serve at least 15 years in prison for a first violation. If implemented, this policy will be a considerable improvement on the past. (Sources: Time, The Daily Mail, The Sunday Times, The Times, The Star & South African Times International .)
