Internet images expose S. African crime spiral

Johannesburg: One man is on a controversial mission to fight South Africa's spiralling crime.

Since Neil Watson launched his website in July, it has hit a nerve, attracting more than 100,000 hits forcing even the government to take note.

It has garish images of crime and violence rampant in the country: A young man lying with a large kitchen knife protruding from his chest; an old man shot in the head and bearing the marks of torture; a 6-month-old burned to death.

The site, www.crimexposouthafrica.org, has been disabled by hackers and criticised by politicians and tourism officials, and it even sparked a website duel with a South Africa booster.

The debate reflects growing concern about crime as the country gears up to play host to thousands of foreign tourists for the 2010 soccer World Cup, and lays bare divisions on strategy for dealing with the problem.

Helplessness

The deaths of 56 police officers in five months this year added to the sense of helplessness and anger that many people here feel about crime. In June, the country was shocked by a shootout after a shopping mall robbery; 12 people were killed, including four police officers.

Analysts are perplexed by South Africa's crime rate, with no simple explanation for why it is so much higher than those in poorer neighbouring countries such as Zimbabwe and Zambia, which also have entrenched social and economic problems.

Although crime has eased recently, according to police statistics, South Africa still has the highest per capita rates of fatal shootings, rapes and assaults in the world, reports NationMaster, a website that compiles UN statistics.

Changed life

Watson said his life changed last year when he went to check on two friends who did not answer their phone. He and police officers arrived at the home in an upscale Johannesburg neighbourhood and found the couple and two friends lying in pools of blood, their throats cut during a robbery.

He wanted the world to feel the same shock and repugnance he felt. "I don't think people understand the brutality. I wanted to expose people to that."

Watson, who seems to relish the controversy he has created and the support he has received, decided that showing gory photographs of victims was the only way to wake up South Africans and to pressure the government.

He said he collected photos of victims from police and families, including one of a man's severed head that was displayed recently on a page titled "Shocking Images". "We want to get the government to focus on crime in this country," said Watson, an insurance broker who lives in an upscale Cape Town neighbourhood. He says he has almost no time for his job because he spends 14 hours a day working on the website. "There's no political will. I think they're in denial."

In early August, the government announced a six-month police blitz focusing on organised crime, cash-in-transit heists, and shopping mall and bank robberies.