Raging crime, fears await new South Africa leader

By Michael Georgy

JOHANNESBURG (Reuters) - Charlotte Coutron was bludgeoned and stabbed to death in her home in broad daylight in a leafy Johannesburg suburb.

The French national's partner found her body a few hours later as her four-month old daughter cried in the next room, left motherless by robbers who made off with a coffee table and a few appliances.

Although most crime is in South Africa's poor black neighborhoods, those in wealthy areas grab more headlines and terrify businesses already nervous of Africa's biggest economy.

As news spread of Coutron's killing in the largely white Parkhurst district late last year, community leader and security company owner Gregory Margolis was inundated with calls, including from international firms.

"Companies always want to know if chances are high that their representatives here will get killed in a carjacking or house robbery," said Margolis. "Because if you get taken out you get taken out. That's it."

Violent crime is one of the biggest problems facing African National Congress leader Jacob Zuma, who is expected to become president after the April 22 election.

He must reassure South Africans suffering some of the world's highest crime rates, prevent any outflow of investment and persuade soccer fans they will not be killed if they come for the World Cup finals next year.

While some foreign firms such as ADT, a unit of Tyco International, and G4S have seized on opportunities in the booming security industry, those in other sectors face high costs and worries for their staff.

Some crimes have fallen but figures are still staggering.

About 50 people are murdered a day -- slightly over the rate in the United States, which has six times South Africa's 50 million population. There were officially 36,190 rapes in 2007-2008 and 14,201 carjackings, but many crimes go unreported.

CENTRAL ISSUE

Crime has been a central campaign issue and Zuma has vowed to tackle it, but without saying just how -- although human rights groups have been horrified by his words of support for the death penalty, abolished since the apartheid era.

Crime has driven some South Africans who can afford it to easier lives abroad. Others surround their homes with high-voltage fences and movement detectors. A few, like Siphiwe Nzimande, have joined the fight against crime.

The chief executive officer of Business Against Crime sets out his ideas while beside him his marketing manager recalls how she was beaten by thieves.

"They are the crimes which would cause an organization based elsewhere in the world that wants to invest in an emerging market to consider India instead of South Africa," Nzimande said.