[Reprinted, by permission, from The Forum, VIII, No. 37 (December 15, 1945): 7-8.]
The crime situation is very serious. The criminals who commit these serious crimes are for the most part natives. There is no hiding this fact, and I do not see how any newspaper could possibly hide it. Indeed, I do not see any good reason for hiding any of the facts about crime, except perhaps from children.
I do not think for one moment that we should derive any comfort from the fact that there is a world-wide epidemic of serious crime. Little is known about postwar outbreaks of crime, and, indeed, according to some of the theories, South Africa might expect to be relatively unaffected.
If we dismiss our present outbreak as a postwar phenomenon, it may prevent us from seeking and finding a second and much more important cause. This second and more important cause I take to be the disintegration of a native society beyond the safety point.
For many years it has been plain that the impact of our Western civilization was breaking native society into pieces, not only in the towns, but even in the very reserves set aside for its preservation.
For a long time the full dangers were not seen, but fathers and sons and daughters went to work and sometimes never came back. Or sometimes came back to visit and smoked and swaggered through the kraals; and daughters flaunted a new and alien, terrifying sexuality. But even in them, old tribal decencies were still rooted deep.
