Abstract:
The primary aim of this thesis is to assess whether and to what extent serious crime
and specifically violent and organised crime, poses a national security threat to South
Africa since 1994. To achieve this, the study focuses on serious crime in South Africa
before 1994; serious crime trends and characteristics between 1994 and 2009; crime
prevention and national security polices developed after 1994; public perceptions of
safety and security after 1994; and the consequences of serious crime. In this regard
three assumptions were formulated for assessment namely:
− South Africa exhibits many of the national security issues of the developing world,
as manifested in predominately internal threats to security.
− Serious crime is one of the main threats to South Africa’s national security, and
continues to have an extremely negative impact on all spheres of life, especially on
the country’s social, economic, security and political environments.
− There has been increasing concern over the occurrence of crime, particularly
serious crime, in South Africa since 1994, despite certain statistical decreases.
All three of the assumptions could be verified in the study.
