audio, stills, text and or video: Go to http://www.zReportage.com to see more - Crime in South Africa cuts across all demographics. Poor, black areas are rife with muggings, rapes and shootings. Killers often prey on isolated white farmers. In middle-class suburbs, most residences are protected by large private security firms. From April 2011 to March 2012 there were 15,609 murders in South Africa, as well as 64,514 sexual offenses and 101,203 cases of aggravated robbery. There are nearly 9,000 private security companies and 400,000 registered active private security guards. That's more than the country's police force and army combined. Experts put the industry's growth down to high crime rates and inefficient policing, and some claim that the industry is a threat to national security.
© Jacob Zocherman/Kontinent/zReportage/ZUMA
Sept. 14, 2012 - Johannesburg, South Africa - REASON NDLOVU works as a public safety ambassador in Rosebank, an affluent area in north Johannesburg. Only a few years ago, the area was plagued by crime and tourists were often targeted. Now, shopkeepers and property owners have joined forces to form a City Improvement Area, a scheme that has been successfully launched across the province of Gauteng.
© Jacob Zocherman/Kontinent/zReportage/ZUMA
Sept. 7, 2012 - Johannesburg, South Africa - A police armoured vehicle, a Nyala, cruises outside an informal settlement in Marikana, where 34 mine workers were shot dead in August. Confidence in the police has plummeted after the event, dubbed the Marikana massacre.
© Jacob Zocherman/Kontinent/zReportage/ZUMA
Sept. 9, 2012 - Johannesburg, South Africa - Soweto, a predominantly black urban area outside of Johannesburg, still suffers from high unemployment and poverty.
© Jacob Zocherman/Kontinent/zReportage/ZUMA
Sept. 14, 2012 - Johannesburg, South Africa - A heavily armed guard on patrol. There are an estimated 400,000 private security guards in South Africa, double the number of police officers in the country.
© Jacob Zocherman/Kontinent/zReportage/ZUMA
Sept. 14, 2012 - Johannesburg, South Africa - CCTV cameras in Rosettenville Mall monitor every movement in the shopping area. 'Shoppers feel safe when they see cameras and security guards. It's about visibility,' says John Jackson, operations manager at Ithemba Sky Mark Security.
© Jacob Zocherman/Kontinent/zReportage/ZUMA
Sept. 14, 2012 - Johannesburg, South Africa - Rosebank in north Johannesburg is one of the city's affluent areas patrolled by private security guards, forcing crime to other areas. 'We are here to ensure there's no fighting. This place is a tourist attraction. You can't get rid of the crime, you just push it somewhere else,' says John Jackson, operations manager at Ithemba Sky Mark Security.
© Jacob Zocherman/Kontinent/zReportage/ZUMA
Sept. 16, 2012 - Johannesburg, South Africa - Night shift at the trauma unit at Chris Hani Baragwanath Hospital, Soweto. Saturday night is the busiest time of the week, and the beds fill up quickly.
© Jacob Zocherman/Kontinent/zReportage/ZUMA
Sept. 15, 2012 - Johannesburg, South Africa - A young women has been stabbed and brought into the trauma unit at Chris Hani Baragwanath Hospital in Soweto.
© Jacob Zocherman/Kontinent/zReportage/ZUMA
Sept. 16, 2012 - Johannesburg, South Africa - A patient's lungs are drained of fluids. Stab wounds are common injuries at the trauma unit at Chris Hani Baragwanath Hospital in Soweto. Many patients that come through the door are the victims of violent crime and mob justice.
© Jacob Zocherman/Kontinent/zReportage/ZUMA
Sept. 15, 2012 - Johannesburg, South Africa - PETER ANDERSON, head of the trauma unit at Chris Hani Baragwanath Hospital, examines a patient together with intern TAMSIN LOVELOCK.
© Jacob Zocherman/Kontinent/zReportage/ZUMA
Sept. 16, 2012 - Johannesburg, South Africa - Victims of violent crime account for about half of the patients at the trauma unit at Chris Hani Baragwanath Hospital in Soweto. 'But stab wounds and gun shots have declined in the past few years,' explains Peter Anderson, head of the department.
© Jacob Zocherman/Kontinent/zReportage/ZUMA
Sept. 16, 2012 - Johannesburg, South Africa - Night shift at the trauma unit at Chris Hani Baragwanath Hospital in Soweto. Victims of assault and violent crime account for about 50 percent of the patients.
© Jacob Zocherman/Kontinent/zReportage/ZUMA
Sept. 17, 2012 - Johannesburg, South Africa - CPS, one of South Africa's many private security companies, patrol the streets of Alberton, south Johannesburg. 'The criminals fear our black cars,' says Phillip Monterio (left) who started the business three years ago.
© Jacob Zocherman/Kontinent/zReportage/ZUMA
Sept. 18, 2012 - Johannesburg, South Africa - NARDUS HOLLANDER, operations manager at CPS, says crime levels in the suburb of Alberton have dropped dramatically since they started patrolling the streets three years ago.
© Jacob Zocherman/Kontinent/zReportage/ZUMA
