The dark side of life insurance in South Africa

THE various forms of violent acts which include interpersonal, structural and technology facilitated in South Africa continue to escalate despite the awareness initiatives primarily through social media platforms, multiple organisational awareness campaigns, and journalistic reports.

- DR SHEETAL BHOOLA

Our judiciary, on the other hand, attempts to bring to the fore accountability and imprisonment for the perpetrators. The legal framework stipulates that for crimes related to gender-based violence, there is a minimum of three years' imprisonment just for the intention to cause harm.

Rape, femicide as well as aggravated sexual offences are all penalised with life imprisonment. In some instances, more than one life sentence is given to a perpetrator in cases where the perpetrator is guilty of more than one rape and murder or if the crime is a combination of violent criminal acts.

Yet these harsh sentences do little to deter crime as we are still struggling with increased incidents of violence nationally.

The number of crimes related to life insurance financial gains has been increasing, and investigators in the Eastern Cape have indicated that life cover as a monetary source is now becoming a key motivation for murder, and in many cases, more than one murder attempt.