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African watchdog raps South Africa on high crime rate

Africa's top watchdog has rapped South Africa for failing to tackle one of the world's highest crime rates prior to hosting the 2010 soccer World Cup, a newspaper said yesterday.

The African Peer Review Mechanism report compiled by a panel of continental elders submitted a 300-page report to President Thabo Mbeki's government about three weeks ago and it will be made public next month, the Sunday Times said.

The newspaper quoted the report as saying that South Africa had either the world's highest or second highest murder rate, adding: "The distinctive feature of crime in South Africa is not its volume but its violence."

"Crime is one of the most difficult of the many challenges facing South Africa in the post-apartheid era," the report said.

"No South African is insulated from its effects. Beyond the pain and loss suffered by the crime victims, crime also had direct costs" on health, productivity and economic growth, it said.

The African Peer Review Mechanism was set up as part of the New Partnership for Africa's Development, which is a homespun continental plan aimed at lifting the world's poorest region out of misery and misgovernance.

The self-monitoring mechanism of the African Union aims to "foster the adoption of policies, standards and practices that lead to political stability, high economic growth, sustainable development," and good governance, according to its charter.

So far, 25 African countries have signed up to be assessed by their peers. Ghana, Rwanda and Kenya have already been reviewed but the reports have not been formally released.
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