South Africa ranked fifth overall in the 2011 Ibrahim Index of governance quality in Africa, but fared poorly in the area of personal safety, the latest index shows.

South Africa's national security scored a high of 95 out of 100 on the index released on Monday, but only 25 for personal safety.

South Africa's score for personal safety was lower than Algeria,(44), Angola (36), Egypt (49), Libya (39), Rwanda (40), and Swaziland (40), the scores showed.

Foundation board member Hadeel Ibrahim said countries with a high national security score did not have civil or external wars.

But, the personal safety score brought into question whether it was safe to walk at night without being raped or robbed.

The two categories made a clear distinction between political instability and personal safety.

The study, which uses 86 indicators to measure the effective delivery of public goods and services to African citizens, gave South Africa 71 points out of 100 for governance quality.

This was higher than the regional average of 58 and the continental average of 50.

South Africa was ranked fourth on the rule of law, fifth when it came to accountability, third in the area of human rights, and seventh with regard to sustainable economic opportunity.

It did well in the sphere of public management, ranking first, was fourth when it came to business environment, 11th in the field of infrastructure, and 14th in the rural sector.

South Africa's overall ranking was behind Mauritius, Cape Verde, Botswana, and Seychelles. Somalia got the lowest ranking.

Foundation chairperson Mo Ibrahim said a trend to watch was that countries were showing a reversal of citizens' rights and human rights in favour of economic sustainability.

"Countries were doing well in terms of improving health and education, but we can't assume that economic success is a substitute for human rights," said Ibrahim.

In the overall results, Namibia was sixth, Lesotho eighth, Zambia 16th, Malawi 17th, Mozambique 21st, Madagascar 33rd, and Zimbabwe 51st.

Libya was 28th and Egypt 10th.