I noted that Africa, America and others have warned South Africa that out of control crime will be the prime reason the 2010 Football World Cup may not be held here. The Government will, no doubt, make suitable noises and achieve nothing.

My own preferred solution would be for the Government to selectively extract some of the more interesting elements from Muslim Shariah laws, and declare hand or digit amputation as the mandatory penalty for theft, with public execution by firing squad for robbery with murder or murder with no redeeming circumstances. Flogging would be another useful tool, for crimes involving violence short of killing..

The only down side of this would be the huge number of amputees who would, no doubt, require state support. The cost, however, of such support, might well be less than the cost of rampant crime?

Seriously, the disregard for law and order in this country is SO widespread that some such measure is about the only way to make an impact. Armed gangs attack police stations, restaurants and housing complexes. Mugging is rife, burglary an everyday event, vehicle hijackings and farm murders are regular happenings, widespread theft of vital infrastructural materials such as copper cables and overall murder rates at a world high. What next?

Prisons are overfull, and are regarded by many as holiday camps – no real punishment there. The Comrades, on the other hand (pun??), genuinely do find the prisons a holiday camp – perhaps the threat of losing a hand outside the Market Theatre or on the Prince Albert Dock on a Friday morning might concentrate their minds a little on their jobs, and less on feathering their nests.

Live TV coverage of amputations and executions would ram home the message very quickly. It would be so nice to be able to leave one’s car outside a shop, engine running, and KNOW that it will never be stolen, much as you can in many Arab countries.

But a government whose members are intent on enriching themselves by any means possible set no good example to the general population. Before government try to clean up the country they must clean up their own act first. But given the background of many government members, it is unrealistic to expect that they even have the first idea about cleaning up ANY acts at all.

To those who feel revulsion at the measures outlined above I would say – try living with it!