Impact of Crime on Small Businesses Report 2008 - Gauteng Online

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THE IMPACT OF CRIME ON SMALL BUSINESSESciency (38 percent), lack <strong>of</strong> feedback (31 percent) and delays in police response (27percent). Police attitude was also mentioned in 11 percent <strong>of</strong> responses.A quarter <strong>of</strong> respondents stated that there had been arrests resulting from criminalcases they had reported to the police. Business owners in townships and informalsettlements were most likely to report successful arrests (39 percent), compared to16 percent in inner city locations and 20 percent in densely developed areas (samplesize 156).According to respondents, however, few arrests had resulted in convictions. Only12 percent <strong>of</strong> respondents reported convictions taking place. Seventy percent statedthat there had been no convictions in the cases they had brought to the police. Thisfinding bears out the results <strong>of</strong> the Investment Climate Report: South Africa, whichfound that 72 percent <strong>of</strong> firms <strong>of</strong> all sizes that had reported criminal incidents to thepolice reported that none <strong>of</strong> the incidents were solved. Similarly, the SAPS2006/07 annual report notes that only 14 percent <strong>of</strong> burglary at non-residentialpremises cases were referred to court, as were ten percent <strong>of</strong> business robberies.10.3 Reporting to community structuresIn recognition that small businesses may under-report incidents <strong>of</strong> crime to the police,the study aimed to establish whether small businesses had access to or expresseda preference for community based structures for reporting purposes. Businessesin the sample were thus asked whether they belonged to a community structurethat included action against crime within its mandate, and/or whether they hadreported experiences <strong>of</strong> crime to such structures. Interestingly, the proportion <strong>of</strong>businesses that belonged to community forums was very low. Furthermore, mostbusinesses were more likely to report crimes to the police than to community basedorganisations.Thirteen percent <strong>of</strong> businesses in the sample reported being members <strong>of</strong> a communitystructure aimed at addressing crime. The figure was lowest for businesses inthe inner city (6 percent) and highest for businesses operating in densely developedsuburban areas (18 percent). The latter figure is however somewhat inflated, sincebusinesses included access to shopping centre security and subscriptions to privatearmed response companies in their responses. Only six percent <strong>of</strong> respondents inthe sample were actually members <strong>of</strong> community forums.Fifteen percent <strong>of</strong> respondents who had experienced incidents <strong>of</strong> crime against theirbusinesses had reported one or more incidents to community structures (as definedby respondents i.e. including private security). The figure was highest for businessesin densely developed suburban areas (18 percent), and included a significant78
THE IMPACT OF CRIME ON SMALL BUSINESSESproportion <strong>of</strong> businesses that had referred incidents to shopping centre/mall securityor management. Only five percent <strong>of</strong> respondents had reported to communityforums or safety and security forums. Of those who had reported crimes to communitystructures, two thirds were satisfied with the outcome.Two thirds <strong>of</strong> all respondents believed that business owners preferred to reportcrimes to the police. Twenty-nine percent felt that they would report crimes to bothcommunity structures and police. Only six percent believed that business peoplepreferred to report crime to community structures rather than police. Businesses intownships and informal settlements showed a slight variation on results, with 12percent <strong>of</strong> respondents indicating that community structures would be preferred tothe police.79
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FOREWORDveys are used to complement
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1 INTRODUCTIONTHERE IS broad agreem
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