Short-term insurers against crime
The press is full of crime stories. This week's most covered incident is undoubtedly the high profile murder of Anglo-Zulu war historian, David Rattray. One of the six men responsible for his murder has already been sentenced in the Pietermaritzburg High Court. But this rare case of quick justice does little to ease his family's pain, nor undo the negative perceptions formed in the minds of thousands of potential visitors to South Africa.
More recently, the talk has been about the alleged government induced decision of First National Bank (FNB) to withdraw a massive anti-crime marketing campaign. The bank canned the controversial campaign at the eleventh hour on Friday- and the press have enjoyed an absolute field day ever since.
Crime is at the forefront of the mind of nearly every citizen in South Africa -with a few unfortunate exceptions. President Thabo Mbeki, commissioner of police Jackie Selebi and Minister of Safety and Security Charles Nqakula are amongst those who believe there is no 'real' problem with crime.
Business takes up the sword
Thankfully there are those dedicating time and money to find constructive solutions to this undeniable problem. On Tuesday, Business Against Crime received a donation or R1.336 million from the South Africa Insurance Association (SAIA).
Business Against Crime is a Section 21 company that relies on donations from business to cover its operating expenses. The organisation focuses on working with various government departments to find solutions to combat violent and serious crimes. One of the projects they are currently working on is the national vehicle crime project. Vehicle crime impacts heavily on SAIA's 54 short-term insurance member companies and the insurance industry as a whole.
In a joint Business Against Crime and SAIA press release in Johannesburg on Monday, 5 February SAIA CEO Barry Scott said:
"We share the responsibility of facing the challenge of unacceptably high crime levels in South Africa with the government and other corporate and individual citizens. In addition it is very much in the interest of the short-term insurance industry that we remain involved in combating vehicle crime. Motor insurance is our largest class of business, with 43% of the industrys gross premium being motor. Half the net cost of all claims paid is for motor claims. During 2004 for example, of the total value of net claims of R15.4 billion, R7.6 billion was for motor claims. Approximately 30% of these motor claims relate to vehicle crime."
Motor vehicle theft unreasonably high in 2006
Vehicle crime costs the short-term insurance industry as much as R2.5 billion per year- so SAIA's involvement with Business Against Crime makes good sense. Reductions in this category of crime will have positive repercussions for the insurance industry as a whole.
Motor vehicle theft peaked in 1998/1999 when a record number of 115,557 incidents were recorded. While the number has shown consistent decline over the years since then, the total (now near 90,000 incidents per annum) remains unacceptably high.
There are a number of areas which will be targeted to reduce vehicle crime. These include reducing illegal re-registration of stolen vehicles, securing the movement of vehicles through our borders and disrupting the illegal trade in motor vehicle parts. Unfortunately, attempts to crack down on any one of these areas, simply results in the criminals shifting focus to another.
Business Against Crime remains confident that they will be able to help re-establish the downward trend that has been in place since 1998.
Editor's thoughts:
Crime has more than financial implications. Violent crime will only be stopped when those responsible for combating it acknowledge that it is a problem. There's little chance of putting a stop to something if you don't believe it exists!
