A Violent Place

I went on a business trip to South Africa this week, spending all my time working in the Ford South Africa offices near Pretoria. I had many interesting experiences, but none more so than the quick tour I was given of the Ford assembly plant. My assigned tour guide was a very nice Public Affairs manager. What made the tour special were the many candid comments she made about what it's like to live and work in South Africa.

Her one remark that keeps ringing in my ears was that many members of the younger generation of South Africans have "no respect for life." She backed this up with hair-raising stories about senseless violence in and around the City of Pretoria, especially towards older, more vulnerable individuals. She told a heart-rending, personal story about friends of hers being shot and killed in their home by thugs, who also bludgeoned the family's dogs to death. The only family member spared was their small child. The PA lady speculated that, although the child had been threatened with a gun, she had been left alive, because even the most violent South Africans still have affection for children. She told of having to respond to repeated questions about this tragic incident from her own father, who is elderly and keeps asking over and over why these friends were killed, when there appeared to be no motive. Nothing of value had been taken from the house. Perhaps nothing scares people more than what they can't understand.

My tour guide described many other "random acts of violence" that are routinely perpetrated in her neighborhood. Her own parents live in a house nearby to hers, and she worries constantly about their safety. She mentioned that her own house had been broken into five times in the last two years! After the first few incidents, she had replaced the stolen goods, but the criminals had returned each time and completely cleaned her out. She said her house is presently bare of furnishings, because there's no point in keeping anything of value in it. Theft and vandalism are so rampant that insurance companies no longer provide coverage. She now carries a gun in her vehicle for protection.

These stories naturally started to make me feel very uneasy about walking around in the plant, but she assured me that I was safe, because the average age of the employees there is about 45 years old. The older generation of South Africans, she said, still respects human dignity and follows the custom of caring for family members and generously sharing with neighbors in times of need. She indicated that the average Ford plant employee feeds and takes care of 16 people. Unemployment is so high that many people in an employee's extended family must be supported or face starvation.

Fortunately, I didn't experience any violent incidents myself during my visit. I stayed in a hotel protected by a fence and security guards, and I was ferried to and from the Ford offices by our local lawyer, who drives a very large Land Rover model appropriately named "The Defender." The lawyer selected it as her vehicle because it's intimidating- looking and could pass for something that "Aahnold" Schwarzenegger would drive in one of his action movies. Even so, the lawyer urged me to conceal my laptop computer on the floor of the vehicle, so a thug passing by wouldn't be tempted to smash through the window and grab it. I was told that this "smash and grab" activity is commonplace.

The biggest tourist attractions in South Africa are the wildlife preserves, where you can hike into the bush and see animals in their natural habitat. In fact, several people told me that I should have been able to hear the roar of wild lions from my hotel room in the early morning hours, though I never did. I recognize that it's impossible to form an accurate view of any place based on a visit of just a few days, but my impression at the moment is that the streets and neighborhoods of Pretoria may be just as dangerous as the nearby bush.