In South Africa, Crime And Violence Are Permanent Headlines
No place has been as riveted by Oscar Pistorius and the Valentine's Day shooting death of his girlfriend as South Africa.
But even before this sensational story burst into the headlines, South Africans were fiercely debating issues that are more or less permanent fixtures in this country — crime, and violence against women.
Crime has always been high in poorly policed black areas, and whites have felt it more in recent years as well. It seems most everyone has been victimized, and many more than once. Well-off South Africans live behind high walls, they pay private security firms to patrol their neighborhoods, they have state-of-the-art security systems, and some of them are armed.
So when Pistorius said in court that he mistook his girlfriend Reeva Steenkamp for an intruder breaking into his home, he was offering an explanation that struck a chord with many of his countrymen.
Yet South Africa is also a place where violence against women is out of control, from rape on the streets to abuse between a man and his female partner. In fact, before the Pistorious case, the newspapers and talk shows were focused on the gruesome gang rape and murder of teenager Anene Booysen in a small town outside Cape Town.
Public protests and marches that had been planned around the Booysen case went ahead as scheduled this week. The only change the organizers made was to add Steenkamp's name to the long list of victims.
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