Celebrating New Year in deadly Safrican hotspot

JOHANNESBURG, Jan 1 (Reuters) The New Year was just minutes away but Nkululeko Mthwethwa was too frightened to walk the few steps to his apartment to celebrate with his family in Johannesburg's most violent neighbourhood.

Fearing he would be struck by refrigerators or televisions hurled from rooftops by vandals, he nervously puffed on a cigarette beside 20 policemen with flak jackets, helmets and pump-action rifles.

''I live right over there but I will be risking my life if I walk down this street,'' he said. ''I heard three gunshots a little while ago.'' Just a short drive from suburban Johannesburg homes with swimming pools and lush gardens, Hillbrow is a prime example of the crime which plagues post-apartheid South Africa.

Under fire for its record on crime, South Africa's government argues it is difficult to extend post-apartheid law enforcement across a country with a police structure that was originally set up only to protect a white minority ruling class from a disenfranchised black African majority.

But with the country scheduled to host soccer's 2010 World Cup, security forces are under growing pressure to prove to people they will be safe in one of the most dangerous places in the world outside a war zone.

It's hard to imagine that will happen any time soon in hotspots like Hillbrow, where people are gunned down for their cellphones and drug lords rule entire apartment blocks.

The statistics are staggering. In the 2005-2006 period there were 18,528 murders, 54,926 rapes, and 226,942 assaults with grievous bodily harm intended across South Africa, according to the Department of Safety and Security.

Gauteng province police director Govindsamy Mariemuthoo said security crackdowns have eased crimes in Hillbrow.

''We recently arrested 27 people and in another incident 150.

It is getting better,'' he told Reuters.

But residents say violence is a way of life in the densely packed neighbourhood of dilapidated high rises, pawn shops and church missions promising hope.

Criminals don't seem fazed by police patrols moving across alleyways and streets infested with piles of garbage. Police and residents say Nigerian drug dealers are the biggest problem.

One of them, wearing a t-shirt that said ''Quik'', casually moved around a corner to avoid a police van then quickly returned to his turf to offer ''everything you want'' in broad daylight.

ONCE A DESIRABLE NEIGHBOURHOOD Hillbrow has not always been Johannesburg's crime central.

Once a desirable area that attracted blacks who broke apartheid rules and moved into a white area, it was known for its vibrant nightclubs.

Then crime drove wealthy residents out and squatters and drug dealers took over abandoned buildings and hotels.

Many South Africans blame violence on what they say are ruthless illegal immigrants from Nigeria, Zimbabwe and other countries but police say locals are also guilty of crimes.

At Hillbrow's main police station, an officer pushed a smooth-talking young man in a slick white shirt out of his office and threatened to arrest him for bribery.

Residents sitting in the lobby seemed like they have been there over and over again. Grace Filatshwayd recalled how one man who mugged her warned he would take the baby strapped to her back if she did not hand over her cellphone.

Outside, relatives and friends of detained suspects stood outside a cell with a ''no standing'' sign.

''You name the crime and they do it in Hillbrow. I am tired of trying to find a lawyer for my friend,'' said Natasha Sangweni, who insisted the friend's offence was only minor.

Crime has become so rampant that a continental review board has warned it is a threat to post-apartheid democracy.

Pastor Joseph Iwundu of the Apostolic Faith Mission has spent a decade trying to convince young men to turn to God. He kept 40 people off Hillbrow's streets in the past year but the Nigerian priest says he needs more help from the authorities.

''We tell people Jesus is the answer and we direct them to jobs.

But if the South African police wanted to stop drug trafficking they would. It's about corruption,'' he said.

While robberies in wealthy white neighbourhoods with high-voltage electric fences and motion alarms grab newspaper headlines, many black-on-black crimes in Hillbrow and other trouble spots go unnoticed.

After five months of searching, a rapid reaction police unit from a district about 50 km away finally tracked a stolen car to Hillbrow. But finding the thief won't be easy.

''The guy who stole this car ran into that building. But everyone is too scared they will be killed if they lead us to him,'' said inspector Henry Smith.

Reuters MS GC1718