Crime had the potential to derail South Africa's economic prosperity, Minister of Police Nathi Mthethwa said on Wednesday.

"It is our firm view that crime, if not tackled with viciousness and smartness has the potential to derail our economic prosperity," he said in an address to the Consumer Goods Council of South Africa.

"To state the obvious: crime has a negative impact on the economy.

"But the biggest challenge is not just to be seen to be doing something - but to actually do something," he said.

Mthethwa said if police managed to reduce robberies, it became "logically clear" that the amount of murders would drop significantly.

"The same applies to attempted murder, which is to a large degree also associated with robberies.

"It is also disturbing that aggravated robbery, despite being a contact crime itself, is also the second largest generator of other contact crimes because victims are sometimes killed and/or seriously injuring during such robberies."

High police visibility increased the risk to robbers by reducing the polices' reaction time.

Mthethwa said that the police Tactical Response Team (TRT) complimented the fight against criminals who targeted retail outlets.

The TRT's were being established in all policing clusters as well as at the international airports.

"Gone are the days when criminals will easily hijack valuable cargo at the airports as this team will always be there to fight them.

"Since the first team was trained and deployed in the Johannesburg and Port Elizabeth clusters, the police have achieved tremendous success in the fight against crime."

Mthethwa expressed concern about lawsuits brought against the police which result from police negligence or wrongful arrests. He said he would rather have police "on the ground, fighting crime" than in court defending themselves.

"That is why we repeatedly stated that we shall not tolerate police officers who abuse the law," he said.

"We have now introduced greater civilian oversight of the police through the Independent Police Investigative Directorate (IPID) and Civilian Secretariat for Police Bills and these two agencies will need to address such abuses."

He said that one of the "fundamental successes" of the 2010 FIFA World Cup was changing the negative perceptions about the country relating to crime.

"Foreign visitors who came to our shores with negative perceptions are now singing a different tune. We should not go back."

The "re-skilling" attained by the police through direct interaction with police from the US, the UK and France were among the "lasting" legacies of the soccer tournament.