Tony Leon, the leader of the Democratic party, asserted that in Cape Town
only one in ten murderers was caught and that only one in a hundred of
those who were caught went to trial. Throughout
the country carjackings
were commonplace, and competition between rival African taxi compa-
nies erupted into shooting wars in all the major cities. Industrial strikes
also led to bloodshed. Africans murdered Whites on isolated farms in the
north, but Africans were both the victims and the perpetrators of most vi-
olent crimes.f Property was also in jeopardy in some areas. Vacationers
and shoppers returned to find squatters occupying their houses, and the
police did nothing about it.? In 1995, police reported that at least 278
crime syndicates were operating in South Africa.!? Such were the condi-
tions that the Mandela government inherited.
To cope effectively with these problems South Africa needed a robust
economy, but the economy that the Mandela government took over was
not in good shape. The recession 'that began in 1988 continued through
1992, and although recovery started in 1993, the gross domestic product
per head was still far below the 1988 level. The inflation rate hovered
around 10 percent overall (the cost of food rose at a far higher rate), for-