South Africa Reports Drop in Violent Crime

JOHANNESBURG, Dec. 6 -- South African police reported Thursday that most types of violent crime fell earlier this year, a rare dose of good news for a crime-weary nation.

The South African government, battling one of the world's highest crime rates, has added thousands of police officers and set ambitious targets for making the country safe before it hosts soccer's World Cup in 2010. Police are increasingly using video surveillance in the downtown areas of Johannesburg, Cape Town and other cities.

Though still very high by international standards, murder rates dropped in all nine provinces between April 1 and Sept. 30, compared with the same period last year.

Nationwide, the rate was 18.7 murders per 100,000 people. That is more than double the U.S. rate but marks a decrease of 6.5 percent for South Africa.

The report amounted to a political victory for President Thabo Mbeki's embattled government, which is struggling to maintain power in advance of a ruling party conference beginning Dec. 16.

Safety and Security Minister Charles Nqakula, announcing the results in the capital, Pretoria, attributed the declines to increasingly aggressive police action.

"We'll use maximum force to defend ourselves and innocent citizens," he said, according to the Reuters news service.

Police also reported lower rates of assault, attempted murder and most types of robbery, including thefts from banks and cash-transit vehicles. Rapes also declined modestly, though activists against sexual violence say that official statistics are an unreliable barometer of trends because the number of cases reported is small.

A string of high-profile murders, including most recently that of internationally renowned reggae star Lucky Dube in October, has fueled a rising fear of violence in South Africa.

In many areas, homes are protected by high walls topped by razor wire or electrified fencing. In wealthy neighborhoods, residents often install barriers to deter intruders, or hire armed guards to patrol streets by bicycle or truck.

The new statistics show that growing fears of home robberies are not unfounded. Those crimes rose by 7 percent. Robberies at businesses increased 29 percent.

"What's happened is people are spending more and more and more money on keeping their homes safe and their bodies safe," said Dianne Kohler Barnard, a member of Parliament and spokeswoman for the opposition Democratic Alliance.

She also questioned the accuracy of statistics showing a drop in crime, saying, "I don't believe it for a moment."

Mbeki drew criticism early in the year for making comments that opponents suggested minimized the danger from violent crime. But in a nationwide radio interview Wednesday night, Mbeki emphasized the issue's importance.

"It's a critical matter," he said. "We have to attend to this matter of crime."

Researcher Robert E. Thomason in Washington contributed to this report.