Debunking South Africa's crime rate.

With just under a year before the world's most popular sport descends on South Africas shores, figures just released show that the country's crime rate is far from rescinding. South Africa is the world's most crime riddled nation with a woman being raped every 18 seconds, and numerous murders occuring per day. President Zuma earlier this year appointed a tough talking and seemingly no nonsense police chief who promised to wipe crime off the face of South Africa. However, the figures on the ground are speaking a different story.

The South African crime rate is a problem that does not require populist politicking like President Zuma is always doing. It is a manifestation of centuries of segregation, political upheavals and inadequate distribution of wealth. It needs a multi-faceted approach. South Africa must embark on a massive job creation exercise twinned with a massive roll out of adult education. Most of the middle aged South Africans have never seen the insides of a classrooom, especially the ones that did not go into exile during the 80s and early 90s when apartheid was reighning supreme. During my stay in South Africa, I was amazed at how some South Africans view the killing of another being as being the equal to just killing a goat for a meal. I blame ignorance for such a warped view about life. Education helps in cultivating values and subsequently morals in human beings.

The inequal distribution of wealth makes some sections of South African society to believe that it is right to rob from others who have amassed undeserving wealth. South Africa is a developed country in some sections, and poorer than the poorest place on earth in others. You do not need to be a rocket scientist to know that if there is poverty in a sea of plenty then there is trouble.

The political leadership, black and white, ruling and opposition, must come together and address these issues. The police alone will never be able to curb crime, even if you go and train them on the moon...

The World's Greates Thief!

You could be one of the people hoping to hang Bernard Madoff - history's greatest thief. Never before has one thief stirred up this much hate. He ran an exclusive investment firm for a select few. His enticement was a steady and un-fluctuating return. One had to invest through large financial institutions in order to invest in his fund, or at least have connections to certain financial personalities, who, in effect, served as Madoff's middlemen. Madoff's scam was in essence nothing more than a simple pyramid scheme. His fund never turned any profit, but when customers asked for their money he would simply transfer money from one account to the other. His business depended on a fund-raising operation, which continued to pump in money in order to cover over the missing profits. When the financial crisis erupted, his panic-stricken clients tried to withdraw their investment, even though they didn't appear to be losing money in Madoff's fund. There wasn't enough money to cover such a sizable withdrawal and, finally, Madoff was caught. He confessed to having embezzled over $50 billion.