Ramaphosa to focus on crime

South Africa will deploy the army to fight organised crime and lay criminal charges against municipal officials who fail to deliver water to communities, President Cyril Ramaphosa said in an address to parliament on Thursday.

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South African President Cyril Ramaphosa delivers the State of the Nation address in Cape Town on Thursday.

(REUTERS)

Endemic crime and water shortages are among the issues that most anger voters, as South Africa approaches municipal elections later this year in which the co-ruling African National Congress (ANC) is expected to see its share of the vote slide further.

Violent crime has made South Africa one of the world’s most dangerous peacetime countries, with an average of more than 20,000 murders a year in a country of about 63 million people.