{"id":806893,"date":"2025-01-18T07:00:00","date_gmt":"2025-01-18T05:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/?p=806893"},"modified":"2025-01-17T15:48:06","modified_gmt":"2025-01-17T13:48:06","slug":"south-africas-worst-crime-can-plummet-if-the-country-takes-action","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/government\/806893\/south-africas-worst-crime-can-plummet-if-the-country-takes-action\/","title":{"rendered":"South Africa&#8217;s worst crime can plummet if the country takes action"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p>South Africa can learn from El Salvador, which changed from the \u201cmurder capital of the world\u201d to having one of the lowest murder rates globally.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>South Africa\u2019s crime statistics revealed that the country continued to battle an incredibly high murder rate, with around 70 murders a day.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The data showed that 6,536 people were murdered between January and March 2024, and 6,198 were murdered between April and June 2024.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Police Minister Senzo Mchunu added that over 9,000 people lost their lives to mass shootings between 2019 and 2024.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>He told parliament that \u201cmultiple murder incidents\u201d become increasingly prevalent across the country.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>South Africans have grown accustomed to these high crime rates and consider it part of living in the country. However, it does not have to be that way.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>El Salvador president Nayib Bukele showed that decisive action can significantly reduce crime and murder rates.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>El Salvador had one of the highest homicide rates in the world and was even named the \u201cmurder capital of the world\u201d.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>In 2015, the murder rate peaked at 107 homicides per 100,000. The two most prominent gangs, MS-13 and Barrio 18, were officially designated as terrorist organisations.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Bukele was elected on the promise of strengthening the country\u2019s economy and ridding El Salvador of the grip of criminal gangs.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>He implemented a multi-stage plan to eliminate murderous gangs and bring the country\u2019s murder rate down.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>He deployed the military in metropolitan areas to disrupt the flow of gang finances. They targeted extortion hotspots, locked prison visitations down and blocked cellphone services around prisons.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>He improved healthcare, promoted education and scholarships, and built schools and sports centres to deter young Salvadorans from joining gangs.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>He modernised security forces with newer weapons, vehicles, and other equipment and better training to gain an advantage over criminals.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>Security forces directly entered territories with strong gang influence and presence to disrupt gang operations and increase gang member arrests directly.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p>A turning point in the country occurred over a weekend in March 2022 when coordinated gang violence led to the death of 87 people.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Bukele\u2019s government declared a state of emergency that suspended many constitutional rights, enabling the government to execute mass arrests of suspected gang members.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>In November 2022, 20,000 security force personnel surrounded the country\u2019s largest cities and patrolled the streets to capture gang members hiding within communities.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The new government constructed a new prison with a capacity of 40,000 to house the gang members who were arrested.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The last phase was launching paid internships and getting older citizens back into the workforce to share their experiences with younger workers.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>This initiative helped to bolster El Salvador\u2019s economy and create a more productive business environment.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The results were striking. Since 2019, El Salvador has arrested around 84,000 gang members and brought its murder rate down to only 2.4 murders per 100,000.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The chart below shows a comparison of the murder rate between South Africa and El Salvador over the last decade.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-large\"><a  data-lightbox=\"post-image\" href=\"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/01\/1-13.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"1024\" height=\"548\" src=\"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/01\/1-13-1024x548.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-806899\" srcset=\"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/01\/1-13-1024x548.jpg 1024w, https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/01\/1-13-300x160.jpg 300w, https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/01\/1-13-768x411.jpg 768w, https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/01\/1-13.jpg 1088w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px\" \/><\/a><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<hr class=\"wp-block-separator has-alpha-channel-opacity\"\/>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Read: <a href=\"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/lifestyle\/801332\/70-people-murdered-every-day-in-south-africa-these-are-the-deadliest-areas\/\">70 people murdered every day in South Africa \u2013 these are the deadliest areas<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>South Africa can learn from El Salvador, which changed from the \u201cmurder capital of the world\u201d to having one of the lowest murder rates globally.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":10,"featured_media":712114,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[23],"tags":[21424,21423,21422,853],"class_list":["post-806893","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-government","tag-el-salvador","tag-nayib-bukele","tag-police-minister-senzo-mchunu","tag-south-africa"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/806893","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/10"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=806893"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/806893\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":807275,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/806893\/revisions\/807275"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/712114"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=806893"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=806893"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=806893"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}