my paraffin gas cooker: they stole its shiny copper fuel tank and left me with the rest of the cooker (see photo from times this property was united).

a bright yellow cheap and broken GPS was stolen, the expensive and professional one, unattractive grey, escaped their attention.

Photo: Negligence In Stealing
Forgotten to steal: 1: all accessories of stolen kitchen machine, 2: minidisks and unobtainable minidisk rechargeable battery of stolen - obsolete - minidisk recorder, 3: All parts of the paraffin gas cooker (only the - shiny! - copper tank stolen), 4: all loose parts of stolen coffee grinder 5: connection wire of stolen 12 V Peltjee system fridge (they probably do not even know what it is) 6:  Radiator heat through let of stolen fridge 7 and 8:  Manuals of stolen GPS and, mind you, autopilot, nobody in Mwanza has ever seen such a thing, let alone feels the need of employing one 10: handle of stolen brace

No need for anonimity in African crime

Thieves do not feel the need for anonimity: Daniel has my stolen property in his house and on his ship yard, visible to tens of people who know me and know they are mine. Daudi, the dhow watchman who stole my binoculars, was seen openly trying to sell it in Mwanza town.
Tanzania Police Commander Malima, who kidnapped my dhow for a ransom, simply used his name and cell phone to contact me. His number is now in my cell phone. I can call him, or have him called, any time.
Going through Kenya, the Akamba line bus crew - who can be traced more easily? - were not shy to kick out my crew and dhow watchman Mazoya, proud owner of a valid ticket, bought, paid and given to him by my myself - probably because the bus was full and a Kenyan offered a good sum for a seat.
Most of this open, identifiable theft stems from the condition of an illiterate society with drums as the only means of communication. In such a condition, one can simply stand up in clear daylight and rob a person on travel, or take property of an absent person. With paper post African style, the thug still has to fear little. But with the advent of cell phones, SMS and email (over which one can send scans of photo's and other identifiers) the good times are over. However, African brains are small. Average adult Africans have the brains of a 15, 16 year old. They keep up the African genetical predator instinct and traditional habitus to be alert to any opportunity to steal, extort and rob, and to do it whenever such an opportunity arises. Though internet caf�s and mobile phone use have mushroomed, only few start to realize that nowadays this open, identifiable theft and robbery cannot anymore go unpunished. In the meantime, despite those modern means of sophisticated predating on primitive predators, due to the sheer inert mass of brainless thugs, most of that primitive crime in Africa will remain safe to commit.
This even holds for all types of government officers: Tanzanian jails, for instance, in my estimation, contain at least as many innocent victims of crime and intrigue by police and "justice" as genuine criminals. I was only one of them. Nobody in, or guarding my police jail seemed to give a damn about who really had committed a crime and who had not. You're caught. That's all. After all, when the predator catches a prey, who cares about the prey's conscience? On return to Mwanza of my crew Emma (Immanuel), the best after Philemon, police had been paid to arrest him for a Mwanza murder committed at the time I took this picture of him in Jinja

[Last update 060616, Immanuel, obviously innocent, now more than two months in Mwanza police jail without trial; this should happen to Daniel, but alas, Tanzania police arrests are random].

If you are too poor to pay your way out, sooner or later police will get fed up with you. Forced labour is something to fear in that case, but it is not widespread because paid labour, where you do not need to waste money on guards with guns and the workers feed themselves in their own family, carries roughly the same wage-tag. If you have money you pay yourself out - it's a few dollars only - you have no problems. I was an exception in that I refused to pay. So, I was kicked out of the country!.
To get even nearer the taste of African looting, I write down here a witness report of a conversation between contractor Daniel and young carpenter Doi, who works for Daniel. Doi's parents are in Ukerewe.  Doi lives in Daniel's house. Doi had hidden my brace (an instrument to manually screw with power) in one of my cardboard boxes with clothes. Daniel wanted the brace but could not find it. Six people standing around, listening the conversation

Daniel: (to Doi): Where is that brace?
Doi: What do you want with that brace? It is not yours!
Daniel: On whose side are you? hamminga's or mine? If you love hamminga so much, why are you in my house? Why don't you go and live with Philemon? Then you can be together against me! Where is that brace!

Daniel finally found the brace the next day when Doi was off. He forgot to steal the handle (see photo above Nr. 10). I lost phone contact with Doi because Daniel had taken his mobile phone. For some weeks, Doi fled to Ukerewe.
Six people witnessed the theft. If I would want twice that amount of people to declare to police they witnessed it, this would cost me less than a few hundred euros. If I would want to have Daniel jailed for 10 years this would cost me � 400/=, with may be every now and then (when his family has collected some money for release) a few additional euros to keep him in. European charities would come to feed him and his poor family.