Security

South Africa is know for being extremely dangerous. Johannesburg know for having the highest risk.  Perviously a apartheid country it only recently started to become a rainbow nation under Nelson Mandella's hard struggle for freedom. Now it is a country of equality and freedom... But is it?

I have been to Cape Town and Johannesburg many times. Looking back on it the first time I went to Johannesburg I was blissfully unaware of the danger, I was young and we were staying with friends so I didn't notice any of the high security that was going on behind doors. However the second time we went I notice and I was scared. We were staying in our friends house who was away on holiday, so it was up to my parents to be in charge of the security, we only stayed for two nights but we never walked anywhere apart from a shopping centre, we always kept the doors locked in the car and never winded the window down. I was shocked when my mum explained the situation. I realised that white people who live in Johannesburg live in fear. They never know what might happen tonight or tomorrow, therefore the live life to the full because they know the blacks rule the city.
Cape Town is not nearly as bad, you do have to drive everywhere but there is not as much security, there is less of a threat.

People know that traveling to Africa is dangerous, but its an amazing place full of culture and incredible people. It is a beautiful country and its people love it. Yet as this Oscar Pistorius case came out on the 14th February, we saw a different side to South Africa. We saw inside its court, its police service and its government. The world watched as it dealt with 'its blade runner'. We followed the cases every move and as a result we saw some flaws in the police. Questions have been raised about what really are the police service doing.

I was in Cape Town 3 days after the news broke. So we got all the information from the South Africans, direct, about what they thought about it. We were watching the news in our hotel lobby when a South African man, who was sitting next to the TV, started talking to us. He said how 'it was a outrage and what are the police doing? All of our good barristers, policemen, detectives and forensics have left for the States, the UK and Australia, therefore these are the people who we are left with. The people who have no clue what they are doing, who walk into a murder scene without gloves or cloaks. Our country is going to the dogs, we are corrupt as enough as it is. When Nelson Mandela dies all hell will break loose and it will be interesting to see how the government and the police force deal with it.'
We were shocked. Yet reflecting on it it's true. What will happen when Mandela dies? Will the peace between white and blacks continue to exist? No one knows. But its clear that the police set the example in South Africa, and if half of the leading policemen have committed a crime that could have caused death then how is that stopping the rest of the country doing that?

What happens if your a normal person in South Africa, you killed your girlfriend in selfdefense because you thought they were an intruder, your case would be barely non-existancent especially if you had no money. You would be sent to prison immediately, let alone have a four day bail hearing like Pistorius. The police would mess around at the scene and not gather information properly, you wouldn't stand a chance because no one would be watching. I am not saying that anyone should get off if they killed someone, but I think everyone should be initialled to a fair case and correct information.

Its a dangerous place. But if you don't trust the police service then who can you trust?