CAPE TOWN (CNS): South Africa’s religious leaders must focus on crime because “not enough is being done or seen to be done” by the government and police, said Cardinal Wilfrid F. Napier of Durban.
South Africa is among the most crime-ridden countries in the world, according to the UN Office on Drugs and Crime.
Violent crime is of particular concern, Cardinal Napier said in a December 17 phone interview from Durban, noting that he “very rarely meets anyone whose family has not been affected by crime”.
As president of the Southern African Catholic Bishops’ Conference, Cardinal Napier is among Catholic representatives on the National Religious Leaders Forum that meets with President Thabo Mbeki and other government leaders to find ways of reducing crime.
At a December 7 meeting in Pretoria with Minister of Safety and Security Charles Nqakula and top officials of the police force, the religious leaders discussed problems local police stations are facing.
South Africa’s high rate of unemployment is partly responsible for crime, Cardinal Napier said.
