By rbhargava
This past week was another memorable one, with the highlight being my weekend at Rocking the Daisies. As the largest music festival in the Western Cape, and Rocking the Daisies is an event many students in the area eagerly await for every year. Located on a large wine estate in Darling (about an hour north of Cape Town), the venue is absolutely beautiful and attracts crowds from all over South Africa. Between the seven stages and three days I was there, I was able to listen to countless South African artists as well as a few internationally famous bands such as Crystal Fighters and MGMT. Listening to great music out in the hot sun was definitely a great way to start my last month as a student at Stellenbosch. Although several thousand people attended the festival, I felt very much at home as I ran into familiar faces and friends from Stellenbosch every few minutes.
In this week's blog post I want to focus specifically on an issue that I have been meaning to cover for weeks now - violence and crime in South Africa. South Africa is consistently ranked as one of the most violent societies in the world, and this culture can be clearly seen in everyday life here. Anywhere you go, buildings are surrounded by tall electric fences and security precautions can be seen everywhere. Here in Stellenbosch, stories of muggings and robberies are very common. Earlier in the year, there was an attempted kidnapping of a student, which has since prompted the university to bulk up its security and create a Green Route that is heavily patrolled by security officers. When I first arrived here, the general recommendation was to never walk alone during when it is dark outside, and to avoid carrying or displaying valuables in plain sight. Public transportation specifically is often seen as a very dangerous space and most white South Africans will either have never taken the trains here, or will highly recommend finding alternatives. Thus far, I have become quite comfortable here and have thankfully had no incidents. However, for most South Africans - violence and crime is inevitable.
To elaborate on that, I've come across many stories and first-hand experiences that can help paint a picture of what crime is like here. When I first arrived, one of my South African friends told me about a time where she was robbed at gunpoint directly outside of her house in Cape Town. Robbery at gunpoint is quite common here, but I can't imagine what it would be like if that occurred right outside my house. About a month and a half ago, this same friend was a few blocks away from the center of campus when a man assaulted her and tried to rape her. Fortunately, she was able to force her way out of the situation and run to safety. The fact that something like this could happen so close to campus makes one acutely aware of how bad the situation here is. One exchange student friend who lives off-campus in a student accommodation with high electric fences has told me that people have broken into her complex multiple times since she moved there in July. Another group of exchange students were held up with knives during a hike just outside of the town and were robbed. The incidences continue to grow, but it seems that this kind of pervasive crime will take generations to push out. From my conversations with students here, it seems like the situation has gotten worse in the previous several months. I truly hope the trend reverses, as South Africa and more specifically Stellenbosch continue to be held back because of this "culture" of crime that keeps people paranoid, separated, and in the end suspicious of their fellow South Africans.