Crime is a major problem in South Africa. According to a survey for the period 1998-2000 compiled by the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime, South Africa was ranked second for assault and murder (by all means) per capita, in addition to being ranked second for rape and first for rapes per capita.[1] Total crime per capita is 10th out of the 60 countries in the dataset. Other data rank South Africa second in the world for murders per capita and first for assaults and rapes.[2] Note that these statistics only compare statistics from approximately 60 countries (typically better-developed countries) and many of the remaining countries of the world will have higher rates of violent crime - though these are usually unmeasured, disputed or uncomparable.
Violent crimes such as murder and robberies have decreased in recent years, with the year 2004 seeing a drop of 4.6% and 5.3% respectively for these two offenses. The rape and hijacking rates, however, showed no signs of such a slowdown. Hijackings and cash in transit heists particularly have been shown to be on the increase. The situation with rape has become so bad that the country has been referred to as the 'rape capital of the world'.[5]
Recently the government has had a widely-publicised gun amnesty programme to reduce the number of weapons in circulation. In addition, it adopted the National Crime Prevention Strategy in 1996, which aimed to prevent crime through reinforcing community structures and helping individuals back into work.

taken from: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Crime_in_South_Africa