PROFILE OF VICTIMS BY RACE, AGE AND GENDER

Almost half of Cape Town's residents (or in some cases, members of their households) were victims of crime over a five-year period between 1993 and 1997. While high, compared to Johannesburg and Durban, Cape Town has a lower victimisation rate. In Johannesburg and Durban, 63 per cent and 59 per cent of people respectively had experienced crime over a five-year period.

Criminal victimisation does not affect people equally and, for a variety of reasons, race, age and gender may all play a role in determining who is the most at risk of victimisation by crime, and particular crime types.

By race, the survey found that coloured people, who constituted 49 per cent of the sample population, were victimised the most, followed by whites and Africans. Across crime types, it appears that both Africans and coloured people are disproportionately victimised in terms of the populations they represent, while whites are slightly less at risk of victimisation. When analysed by crime type, Africans and coloured people are disproportionately victimised by violent crimes, while whites are largely victimised by property crime.

Of the victim sample, across crime types, people between the ages of 21 and 35 years were mostly victimised (39 per cent), followed by those between 36 and 60 years (36 per cent), between 16 and 20 years (15 per cent) and over 60 years (10 per cent). Internationally, it has been found that a younger age group (16-24) are the most at risk of victimisation. However, it has been argued that the higher age group who is at risk of victimisation in South Africa may be explained by the notion of the 'lost generation' who has grown up in and is pursuing a lifestyle which may offer opportunities for victimisation.

Figure 2: Demographic profile of victims in Cape Town: race, age and gender (1993 - 1997)



Fifty four per cent of all victims were men, who constitute 49 per cent of the population of Cape Town. For general victimisation rates across crime types, men are significantly more at risk of being victimised than women. However, men and women may be victimised disproportionately by individual crime types. According to the survey results, men are the most at risk of violent crime in Cape Town. This is not always the trend internationally, and probably relates to the fact that sexual incidents and domestic violence - the kinds of violent crimes women are often vulnerable to - are unlikely to be reported to a street victim survey. In more developed countries where data are available, studies show that men and women are equally at risk of assault. In the rest of the world, however, women are more likely to be assaulted than men, and indications are that in many developing countries, the problem of violence is largely one of sexual and/or non-sexual violence against women.15

Figure 3: Levels of victimisation in Cape Town by crime type (1993 - 1997)

VICTIMISATION RATES BY CRIME TYPE

When considered according to specific crime types, respondents in Cape Town reported having been victimised (both personally or household) by the following crimes:

burglary (18,1 per cent);


robbery or mugging (15,6 per cent);


vehicle theft (13,5 per cent);


murder (9 per cent);


assault (7,8 per cent); and


hijacking (2,3 per cent).

The most common crime experienced by the city's residents between 1993 and 1997 was burglary, with 18,1 per cent of people reporting this crime to the survey. The second most frequently reported incident was vehicle theft (13,5 per cent), followed by violent crimes: robbery or mugging (15,6 per cent), murder (9 per cent) and assault (7,8 per cent). As is the case in many developing countries, the majority of assaults were of a serious nature, with 57,8 per cent involving the use of a weapon.

The prevalence of burglary in Cape Town is not surprising: of 54 countries and cities surveyed by the ICVS, burglary was the crime type occurring the most often in Africa.16 Vehicle theft, which is the crime most likely to affect city residents according to other victim surveys, happened to just over 13,5 per cent of respondents between 1993 and 1997 according to the ISS survey. Comparative studies both locally and abroad show that the risk of having a vehicle stolen is twice as high for car owners as for the general population. In Cape Town, this also appears to be the case.

Of thirteen developing countries surveyed by the ICVS, property crimes, such as burglary and car theft, occurred the most frequently, followed by serious violent crimes, including robbery and assault. Despite the overall predominance of property crimes, levels of violent crime are nevertheless the highest in sub-Saharan African and Latin American countries.17 Although the expectation is that property crimes will be higher in the developed world, studies suggest that, in these countries, property crimes have decreased as a result of improved security measures and target hardening (physical measures taken to make committing a crime more difficult). Developing countries are not necessarily less prone to property crime and, instead, suffer high levels of both property and violent crime.18 These trends are reflected in Cape Town.

VICTIM SURVEYS AND POLICE STATISTICS

A detailed comparison between police statistics and those of the Cape Town victim survey is not useful, since police and local authority boundaries do not always match, and because definitions of crimes used by the police and by the survey are not exactly the same. Police statistics are therefore used merely to indicate general trends and as a basis for assessing the significance of reporting rates to the police as related by victims in the survey.

Police statistics (January-September 1997) indicate that crime ratios measured per 100 000 of the population in the police area of Cape Town (divided into East and West metropole) fall into the top ten across the country:19

The most prevalent property crime type recorded by the victim survey, namely burglary, is among the highest in the country in the West metropole according to police statistics. Murder, attempted murder and rape in the Western Cape's East metropole are the highest in the country. Assault recorded in the East metropole is the ninth highest in the country. According to police statistics, Cape Town therefore has among the highest levels of violent crime and some property crimes, like burglary.

While crime levels recorded by police statistics and the survey differ, there are similarities in relation to the shift in crime rates over the past couple of years. In terms of the latest SAPS Crime Information Management Centre (CIMC) report which shows crime levels in the Western Cape between 1994-1997, it appears as if particular crime types in the East and West metropole - the police areas in which the survey was mainly conducted - demonstrate similar trends to the survey. For example, robberies increased in both areas from 1996 to 1997, as did assaults.

Figure 4: Levels of victimisation in Cape Town by crime type (1996 and 1997)



Victim surveys generally ask respondents to recall crimes which have happened to them over a period of five years. Using a five-year period reduces the risk of 'telescoping' where respondents are more likely to remember the most recent incidents. If respondents are not pressed to consider a longer period of time, they tend to report most victimisation over the past year or two, which inflates the actual victimisation rate.

Respondents were asked to indicate the year in which particular crimes happened to them. Changes recorded between 1996 and 1997 are thus based on when victims in the survey sample said crimes happened to them. When comparing levels of victimisation across crime types for 1996 and 1997, the general observation can be made that levels of criminal victimisation across crime types in Cape Town are stabilising, albeit at high levels.

According to the survey, crime types which happened more frequently in 1997 than in 1996 were assault and robbery. Burglary and vehicle theft decreased marginally in 1997, while hijacking and murder stabilised during 1997.

Figure 5: Levels of victimisation in Cape Town by crime type: African victims (1993 - 1997)

PEOPLE MOST AT RISK OF VICTIMISATION BY SPECIFIC CRIMES

Africans living in Cape Town reported being victims of burglary (25 per cent), robbery (21 per cent), murder (19 per cent), assault (14 per cent), vehicle theft (13 per cent), and hijacking (8 per cent).

Coloured people living in Cape Town reported being victims of burglary (25 per cent), robbery (23 per cent), vehicle theft (19 per cent), assault (16 per cent), murder (14 per cent), and hijacking (3 per cent).

Whites living in Cape Town reported being victims of burglary (40 per cent), robbery (23 per cent), vehicle theft (19 per cent), assault (16 per cent), murder (14 per cent), and hijacking (3 per cent).

Figure 6: Levels of victimisation in Cape Town by crime type: coloured victims (1993 - 1997)



Considering victimisation across crime types by race points to the fact that whites are more likely to be victimised by property crimes (burglary (40 per cent) and vehicle theft (30 per cent). This is not surprising as crimes which are aimed at property affect those people and situations that present the greatest opportunities for theft. For example, the survey shows that whites are more likely to own two or more vehicles than other races.

Whereas Africans and coloured people are also at risk of being victimised by property crimes, Africans are the most at risk of murder (19 per cent) and hijacking (8 per cent). Coloured people are the most likely of all the groups to be victimised by assault (16 per cent). Robbery, which is both a property and a violent crime, affects all people living in Cape Town to a similar extent, although coloured people (23 per cent) and whites (23 per cent) are slightly more at risk.

One of the reasons why coloured people and Africans are more at risk of violent crime in Cape Town may be their comparatively limited access to police and other criminal justice resources which have been skewed in the past in favour of white South Africans. Police resources remain unevenly spread, with estimates in 1996 showing well over half of the police stations still located in the former white areas.20 Coloured people and Africans are also more likely to have gangs operating in their areas, with associated violence. In South Africa, uncontrolled and high levels of alcohol consumption in an environment of poverty have also been associated with crime, in particular, violent crime.21

Figure 7: Levels of victimisation in Cape Town by crime type: white victims (1993 - 1997)

SEXUAL ASSAULT

In terms of sexual assault - the question was asked of male and female respondents - of the 930 female respondents who participated in the survey, 32 (0,04 per cent) reported experiencing sexual assaults. Sexual assault had the lowest response rate of all the crime types in this survey. Underreporting to interviewers is more likely to account for the low response rate rather than actual low levels of sexual assault. More generally, the sample of sexual assault victims recorded by this survey is too small to draw detailed conclusions or to detect regional patterns of sexual violations. However, some tentative conclusions can be made.

The responses of people in Cape Town to the survey reveal more detailed information about the circumstances surrounding sexual assault than cases reported to the police. The results can also provide at least some initial understanding of why survivors of sexual assaults do not report these to the police. In this way, survey findings may serve to demystify unfounded myths about sexual assault, such as the belief that offenders tend to be strangers to their victims, that women are the most vulnerable in public places (open fields, parking lots, alleys) rather than at home, and that these crimes primarily occur late at night.

Comparative statistics on sexual assault (including rape and attempted rape) from other sources give a more accurate picture of these crimes in the Western Cape. For example, the most recent South African Police Service CIMC quarterly report on rape and attempted rape states that, between January and September 1997, 36 137 rapes (including attempted rapes) were reported to the police nationally, a 19,4 per cent increase from the first three quarters of the previous year. In the Western Cape, 1 323 of these incidents occurred in the West metropole, 1 288 in the Boland region, 1 610 in the East metropole and 641 in the Southern Cape. The East metropole and the Southern Cape (along with seven other police areas in the country) have the top rape ratios, varying from 131 to 194 per 100 000 of the population, compared to national figures which range from 37 to 194. CIMC also reports that "the incidence of rape is again on the increase after showing signs of stabilisation during the first 6 months of 1997."22 Comparing the South African crime ratios with 1994 Interpol ratios reported for 89 member states, the CIMC also reveals that South Africa remains in an "undisputed first place" as far as reported cases of rape are concerned. However, caution needs to be applied to police statistics on rape.

Of the 32 participants in the victim survey who disclosed incidents of sexual assault, 16 per cent were African women, 68 per cent were coloured women and 16 per cent were white women. Coloured women are disproportionately victimised. This is confirmed by the finding that women in historically coloured areas (in both the northern and southern suburbs, and in the Cape Flats), face a higher risk of being sexually victimised.

The survey found that women under the age of 25 are the most vulnerable to sexual assault. Figures from Rape Crisis confirm this. Statistics from 1994-1997 from one of their three Cape Town offices also show that, during this four-year period, they received 6 551 calls for counselling, advice and referrals and during these four years, provided counselling to more than 1 000 survivors of rape. During the same period, 31 per cent of Rape Crisis' clients were under the age of eighteen, and 75 per cent under the age of 25.

SEXUAL HARASSMENT

To date, research into the extent of sexual harassment in South Africa is very limited. Vetten, however, reports that one survey23 suggests that 67 per cent of working women have experienced harassment, while another24 reports that 76 per cent of female respondents have been harassed. Only 55 people reported to the victim survey that they had been sexually harassed. Of the 55 respondents who disclosed experiences of sexual harassment, only three were male. The results of the sexual harassment category of this survey, like other surveys, are gender-skewed.25 Some believe that sexual harassment is the inevitable result of women's historic and current economically and socially inferior position to men, rendering them much more vulnerable to harassment. This does not underplay the reality, however, that victims of sexual harassment may come from all age groups, occupations, educational levels and racial backgrounds.

It seems remarkable, however, that so few respondents, especially women, reported harassment to the survey. The reason for the low response rate to this particular category is probably due to the definition of harassment used in the interview schedule. It reads: "people sometimes grab or touch others against their will, or persistently harass them for sexual reasons." This operational definition is narrow and could have included a far broader interpretation of sexual harassment. The definition employed in this survey more closely approximates the criminal law definition of crimen injuria. It is largely due to the narrowness of the definition used in the interviews, that most women, who had actually experienced sexual harassment, did not report having experienced sexual harassment. Undoubtedly, the response rate for this category would have been substantially higher. Also, in requiring the respondents to speak only about their most recent experiences of sexual harassment, the survey findings are inherently limited in that they diminish the notion of sexual harassment to a single event rather than an ongoing occurrence in many victims' lives. This requirement also interposes the link that ongoing harassment can have with other forms of violence (stalking, coercion, threats of physical violence and rape).

Of the 55 reported incidents of sexual harassment, 20 per cent of the respondents were African, 41 per cent were coloured and 39 per cent were white. The reason for the proportionally lower incidence of sexual harassment among African people, who constitute 23 per cent of the sample population, cannot be drawn conclusively. Possibly, such statements as "there is no sexual harassment in our culture ... sexual harassment is a Western idea", drawn from participants in workshops conducted by the Sexual Harassment Educational Project (SHEP),26 confines some African women to tolerance of this type of incident. The notion that there is no sexual harassment within some cultures or customs, not only condones the victimisation of women, but perpetuates women's feelings of self-blame and reluctance to report these incidents.

Having examined general levels of victimisation in Cape Town over a five-year period by crime types by age, race and gender, it is important to look at who reported crime to the police before analysing the particular circumstances surrounding crime in Cape Town.