Crime and Policing in Post-apartheid South Africa: Transforming Under Fire

South Africa's Apartheid regime focused the energies of its police force on countering its political opponents rather than tackling conventional crime. This, together with the appalling legacy of social dislocation among the urban poor which it bequeathed to the ANC administration, has contributed to a tripling in recorded crime in the late 1990s. Crime is now seen to pose a serious threat to the country's stability.