Handmade crafts are generally the African arts like soap stone statues of animals like elephants, hippos, lions etc or beaded art works and clothing with a distinctive African design flavor.

Skills are often an uninvited windscreen wash, parking security ‘officer‘ or even a new exhaust – no guarantees though

Years ago, big vendors in South Africa did pretty much the same putting their goods on the sidewalk in front of the shop and people would later walk in and pay for the item. As the crime rates have increased astronomically, this action is now a distant memory for South Africans.

South African shop behind bars

Typical South African bottle store

Down under in Australia, crime is not suffocating the street shopping experience. Below is an image of a forklift unloading a couple cases of Pure Blonde beer.

The operator then went off on his scheduled lunch break. Do you think the cases of Pure Blonde beer would still there if he’d done this in South Africa? He’d be lucky if the forklift was still there!!!

If you’re ever in Brisbane, Angus & Robertson is one of those book stores that have pretty much every topic covered. Also visit Dymocks – another book store, just further up on Queen Street, opposite the mall.

Chalk and cheese, black and white – that is how the street shopping experience between Australia and South Africa compares. The difference driven by crime and the mentality of the people.

I don’t think Anubis would survive or help South Africa – probably be sold for scrap metal!!!

So very sad ;-(

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Or maybe that’s the African mentality?

In South Africa the criminal has degenerated into brutal animal. You can easily without hesitation be shot for your mobile, bag, wallet, car etc.

Serious crime – that’s murder, attempted murder, rape, assault and robbery account for 33% of all recorded crime in South Africa. In Australia, serious crime is a fraction of a percentage point.

The crime statistics listed below were extracted from official press releases or advisories – they’re not manufactured!!! The South African release was dated 31 July 2007, whilst the Australian was August 2007.

According to the Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS), approximately 82% of persons felt safe or very safe when at home alone during the day, compared with 72% feeling this way after dark.

How many South Africans can say that?

None – South Africans live in fear!

At night South Africans lock themselves up behind barbed wire, high walls, electric fences and security gates. The only thing that differentiates the law abiding citizen from those still left in prison is that they have the key to their cell door!

According to a Overseas Security Advisory Council (OSAC) report, to compare favorably with other INTERPOL countries, South Africa must reduce its violent crime by 7-10% pa for the next 10 years.

As the 2010 World Cup draws closer, pressure is mounting to stem the out of control crime – if this does not happen, the country will fall short of a target of ten million tourist arrivals.

Hopefully with this crime statistics comparison you will understand why I love Australia

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