Crime is of increasing concern to South Africa's citizenry and government. Despite the prominence of criminality as an issue, surprisingly little is known about it as a phenomenon. South Africa has some of the highest rates of violent crime in the world – yet very little can be said about how these crimes occur, where they occur, and whom they affect. This has significant implications not only for an understanding of the causes of crime but also for the implementation of appropriate policies to combat crime.

To date the research and policy focus on crime control and prevention has been narrow, with a slant towards wealthier suburban residents and business groupings which are more likely to lobby around the issue of crime. Yet crime is not primarily concentrated in the major metropolitan areas, where it arguably has the highest visibility. In fact, parts of the country not generally believed to have a criminality problem, such as Northern Cape province, display levels of crime higher than elsewhere in South Africa when instances of crime are compared as a ratio of population.

Little acknowledged, then, is the impact of crime on millions of South Africans with scant access to the media or to pressure groups and government. It is these people – the country's poor – who arguably bear the brunt of high crime levels. In terms of per capita gross domestic product, South Africa is relatively wealthy. But most of the country's inhabitants are either extremely poor or are continually vulnerable to becoming poor.

Researching the issue of how these people are affected by crime is complicated by the shortage of reliable statistics and information. Given the paucity of data, this study has sought to supplement national and regional statistics with qualitative research work, based largely on interview material, in specific areas in the country – Northern and Eastern Cape – which are affected by crime in different ways. While there has been some debate on the relationship between poverty (or more accurately inequality) and crime, no single South African study has explored how crime impacts on the poor.

ACKNOWLEDGEMENT

This monograph is based on an input report written for a major study on poverty and inequality, co-ordinated by Data Research Africa and funded by the British Overseas Development Administration (ODA), the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), and the World Bank. The study will culminate in the forthcoming Report on poverty and inequality in South Africa.