These figures might seem contradictory: How can people love living in a country where they are permanently afraid of being mugged? I am sure that lots of clever people have come up with highly sophisticated explanations for this, but let me offer you a slightly different interpretation…
Seven out of ten South Africans think that South Africa is the best country in the world and there are hundreds of reasons why I agree with them. One of them is that I can buy a huge box of grapes for a Pound, a mango for a Dollar or a ten-kilo watermelon for a Euro! And what makes it even better is that I don’t have to go into any shop or queue on any tills, but I can get them straight from the little ‘stall’ outside my office or from the guy, who sells fruit out of a shopping trolley on the way to my car park. The fruits are always beautifully fresh, perfectly ripe and super juicy … yum!
The other day I went to buy mangoes from the shopping trolley guy, picked the biggest ones, gave him R10 and was already walking away when he called me back. It turned out that the price of mangoes had fallen from R5 to R4 over night and this street vendor was so incredibly honest that he actually called me back to give me change! I could not believe it! In a country where everyone is permanently worried about being mugged, murdered or hijacked, the guy selling mangoes out of a shopping trolley called a white girl wearing office clothes back to give her R2 change, rather than just keep it and be sure that she would never find out! Looking back I am still baffled, astonished and amazed about this little incident and it showed me that one of the statistics must clearly be wrong – after all happiness (i.e. mangoes) and crime (i.e. being ripped of by street vendors) do clearly not come together in South Africa!But just as I was about to rejected any relationship between mangoes/happiness and crime, I came across another study, which changed the picture somewhat – and unfortunately neither in South Africa’s nor the mango’s favour!
Research by Australian scientists apparently found a relationship between mangoes and crime! Dr. Thomas and his colleagues monitored hospital admissions over a decade and found that while in most months hospitals had between 15 and 20 admissions, this number increased by 41 per cent between October and December. The months of October and December are the ones when temperatures are highest (both during the days and at night), conditions are dry and locals complain about a type of restlessness and mood swings. Australian police say that domestic assaults increase, violence in the streets rises and drunken escapades occur more frequently than in any other month. It is also the season when mangoes are harvested!
Dr Thomas and his colleagues therefore came to the conclusion that “Mango Madness”, the period when extreme weather tension triggers violence, is not just a myth and concluded that “when there are mangoes in the markets, there is madness in the streets!”Having read this, I was wondering whether the same would also be true for South Africa. Even though South Africans love their country, a closer look at the statistics confirms that they also have good reasons to worry about their safety: In per capita terms, the country ranks second in murders (Colombia 1st), fourth in robberies (Spain 1st), tenth in total crimes (Dom Rep 1st) and sadly finds itself at the top of the list when it comes to rapes. The situation looks slightly better in per capita terms, when South Africa “only” ranks second in terms of rapes (US 1st), fourth in murders (interestingly, India 1st), second in gun violence (Thailand 1st) and also second when it comes to kidnappings (surprising, here the UK came first!).
Prevalence of murder in South Africa
Prevalence of murder in Gauteng (my province)
Worldmapper.org provides maps on which each country is re-sized according to the subject of interest and the maps for violence (including assault, crime and domestic violence) and violent deaths (deaths due to murder and manslaughter) sadly confirm these statistics.Non-accidental deaths
Murder
But let’s focus again on what really matters: mangoes! Just like in Australia, December is the hottest time of the year in South Africa with average temperatures of 28°C during the day, 15°C at night and nine hours of sunshine every day (personally, I think it is hotter than this. For comparison sake, the UK average temperatures in July are 22°C and 14°C, respectively with six hours of sunshine per day). And just like in Australia, crime is also highly seasonal in South Africa with the biggest spikes occurring in the third week of December!I am sure that there are hundreds of other factors that have a great impact on crime figures - burglars must be more tempted to break into homes when they know that people have just been on a shopping spree or are away on holiday - but the high temperatures and dry conditions in December may also play a role. After all, the researchers did find that hot conditions affect the brain and cause impulsiveness for violence…
So maybe there is a link between happiness/mangoes and crime after all… but in South Africa it’s unfortunately not only the case that there is madness in the streets when mangoes are in the markets, but this also applies to pineapples, grapes, oranges, strawberries, plums …
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