and 1998 (largely because of the decline of political killings), the at-
tempted murder rate increased by 7.8 percent, robbery with aggravating
circumstances increased by 4 percent, rape (including attempts) increased
by 16 percent, assault with intent to commit grievous bodily harm rose by
II
percent, and residential housebreaking
by 17 percent."? Throughout
the Mandela presidency, South Africa had indubitably
the highest rape
rate in the world-49,280
women were reported to have been raped in
1998. This shameful preeminence was related to the male chauvinist ele-
ment in South African culture. South Africa also had one of the five high-
est rates of other violent crimes; in 1998, for example, the official South
African murder rate was 58.5 per 100,000, nearly ten times the u.S. rate
of 6.3 murders per 100,000. 78
There was also a high level of corruption
in the new South Africa.??
Some of it was inherited from the apartheid regime, but much of it was un-
precedented. A few examples illustrate the range of political corruption.
In the central government,
police and other officials stole pensions from
the dead and issued duplicate pensions, ran a scam in driving licenses, ex-
torted money from people they had arrested illegally, and colluded with