JOHANNESBURG (Reuters) - In the five days that the ruling African National Congress takes to elect a leader and approve major policies, more than 600 women and children in South Africa are likely to be raped and 240 others murdered.
Some 3,000 houses could be burgled and 2,500 robberies carried out in a country described as one of the most violent outside a war zone.
While supporters of President Thabo Mbeki and his challenger Jacob Zuma fight for the right to lead the ANC for the next five years, the bigger question for many is whether the next lot of leaders can reduce crime as well as HIV/AIDS and unemployment.
The crime crisis -- a report issued last week showed violent crime remained unacceptably high in the six months to September -- looms over the ANC as more than 4,000 party activists prepare to gather north of Johannesburg for the December 16-20 congress.
They are aware that the problem, if left unchecked, threatens to increase the exodus of skilled South Africans, dissuade foreign businesses from investing, as well as derail the 2010 soccer World Cup, which could draw 400,000 fans and visitors to host nation South Africa's shores.
The country's crime scourge was highlighted in October when gunmen murdered reggae star Lucky Dube in an apparent botched car-jacking south of Johannesburg.
"The high level of crime, particularly violent crime, is a serious concern for all South Africans, irrespective of what high-profile international events may be staged in this country," Graham Wright, deputy chief executive of Business Against Crime South Africa, said.
"Crime is a severe impediment to the growth and wellbeing of this society," he added.
More than 8,900 people were murdered in the six months to September alone. Nearly 23,000 women reported being raped and more than 92,000 robberies committed in the same period. On a daily basis, there were an average of 49 murders, 125 reported rapes and 503 robberies.
Opposition parties and other government critics say the latest figures disprove official claims crime is under control.
"The government is in denial about crime and regardless of their claims that crime is decreasing, the same is not being felt or experienced by communities and people at grassroots level," said Inkatha Freedom Party spokesman Velaphi Ndlovu.
Attacks on businesses also are on the rise, with Safety and Security Minister Charles Nqakula conceded last week that the problem was a major headache.
Analysts mostly blame crime on poverty and an unemployment rate of around 25 percent while its violent nature is also seen as a legacy of decades of an often bloody struggle against the repressive apartheid regime that only fell 13 years ago.
NOT WINNING ON CRIME
While Mbeki largely gets poor marks for his anti-crime efforts, few have publicly expressed faith in Zuma, who leads the ANC leadership race, to radically alter course if he succeeds Mbeki as state president in 2009.
Zuma has had his own brushes with the law. He has been dogged by the same graft allegations that led to his 2005 dismissal as the nation's deputy president and he was acquitted of rape in a 2006 trial.
"I have no faith in the man," said Johannesburg resident Sindi Ngcobo, who added that she plans to move abroad with her husband and two children should ANC delegates clear the way later this month for a Zuma presidency.
The bulk of crimes occur in teeming, poverty-stricken black townships, though the media tends to focus on sensational carjackings and home invasions affecting the affluent minority, many of whom have high-tech systems to protect their properties.
A South African newspaper recently reported a man stabbed his 79-year-old grandmother to death in a quarrel over food, while a woman was charged with helping her boyfriend repeatedly rape and sodomize her 6-year-old daughter.
Angry communities are beginning to take matters into their own hands. Last week a mob pummelled a suspected robber with sticks and stones before placing a tire over his head and setting it alight.
"South Africa is not winning the war on crime," the Citizen newspaper said in an editorial, dismissing reports of a slight decline in murder and robbery as 'cold comfort'.
"It (decline) will not substantially calm everyday fears of ordinary South Africans going about their lives without the luxury of bodyguards. Nor will it steady the nerves of potential overseas investors and tourists," it said.
Computer programmer Tinashe Musanhu, who fled an economic meltdown in neighbouring Zimbabwe, sees crime-riddled South Africa as the lesser of two evils despite losing his car to hijackers within a month of his arrival last year.
"I guess I will sit it out here, Zuma or no Zuma, and see how it goes," Musanhu said. "You can't keep running forever."
(Editing by Paul Simao and Mary Gabriel)
The people we voted for are living in mansions, while we are living in shacks 
JOHANNESBURG (Reuters) - Jacob Zuma is a charismatic but controversial figure who has dodged one South African political minefield after another to become a frontrunner in the race to lead the ruling African National Congress party.