South Africa: Crime in Transition

Ending crime has become the leading challenge of South Africa's democratic government. While the growth of criminality in the society began in the early 1980s it peaked - in common with other societies attempting to move from authoritarian rule to democratic governance - during the years of political transition. But, South Africa's system of criminal justice is ill-prepared to face the challenges of growing crime. Policing remains centralized, unresponsive to local needs and requires the upgrading of detection services, urgent reform is also required in the areas of prosecution, sentencing and incarceration. The National Crime Prevention Strategy, the key response of the new government to growing levels of crime, while an important initiative, remains too centralized and reliant on Pretoria-led rather than local initiatives. On the ground, critizens are responding in their own way: for the wealthy (and generally white) this means greater use of the burgeoning private security industry, for less fortunate communities it increasingly raises the possibility of taking the law into community hands through vigilante action.