PERCEIVED RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN IMMIGRATION AND CRIME LEVELS IN TSHWANE

Abstract

Migration, especially undocumented migration, has been a concern for quite a while in South Africa as a result of popular misunderstanding that the presence of immigrants heightens crime levels. The spread of this belief has led to the widespread mistreatment of immigrants within our communities, which include human rights abuses and xenophobic attacks. In a bid to minimise risks to South Africa’s development and democracy, the purpose of this research is to investigate and understand the basis of these perceptions in the Tshwane Metropolitan area, that associate immigration with crime. A qualitative approach in the form of in-depth interviews was used in conducting this research. This method gives a comprehensive and complete understanding of different individual’s experiences on the perceived link between immigration and crime. The main findings of the research are that immigrants do contribute to some acts of crime, like any other citizen, but their exact contribution cannot be determined with precision, as there are no available statistics to validate the link. The research has therefore demonstrated that the perceptions claiming that immigration increases crime levels in the area cannot be independently verified.