Recognising the underlying causes of crime in South Africa, government is taking an "integrated approach" in dealing with the issue. This was according to Nathi Mthethwa, Minister of Safety and Security, who was speaking as part of a panel debate on crime, hosted by the Human Sciences Research Council and the University of Johannesburg, earlier this week.

In response, the Democratic Alliance's (DA's) spokesperson on Safety and Security, Dianne Kohler-Barnard, scoffed that the African National Congress's (ANC's) integrated approach had "failed miserably".

Further, Congress of the People (Cope) deputy president and former Gauteng premier under the ANC, Mbhazima Shilowa, pointed out that there were countries more poverty-stricken than South Africa where violent crime did not hold sway.

However, while there may be countries poorer than South Africa, there are few that are as unequal, and perhaps such gross inequality, together with a history of violent struggle, have combined to generate the exceptionally high levels of crime evident in the country.

Certainly, these "social scars" should not be ignored, explained Business Against Crime chairperson Mark Lamberti.

Failure to adequately tackle crime and its underlying causes could lead to the emergence of vigilantism.

Controversially, in a recent address, ANC president Jacob Zuma indicated that he understood why people felt they had to take the law into their own hands.

Most members of the debating panel strongly criticised this statement, claiming that Zuma was just seeking to win votes in the upcoming elections.

Mthethwa, however, said in Zuma's defence, that the comment had to be considered in context, and that the ANC was not condoning vigilantism.