The South African government has declared war on crime, promising no mercy for criminals and help for the police service, which is overstretched and apparently unable to cope.

Reducing South Africa's crime rate was described as the top priority in the new government led by Thabo Mbeki, who took over from Nelson Mandela two weeks ago.

At a news conference, the new Safety and Security Minister, Steve Tshwete, promised to purge the police force of corrupt officers and to ensure the force was properly trained, equipped and motivated.

The statistics in this country are shocking. Every day last year there were on average

• 731 house break-ins
• 135 rapes
• 41 car hijackings
• 68 murders

'FBI' plan

In his first state of the nation speech, Mr Mbeki said his government would set up an integrated unit to tackle what he called priority crimes like murder, rape and child abuse.

Mr Tshwete gave more details of that unit which will apparently be similar to the FBI in the United States.

Plans for it were well advanced, he said. Criminals would now have to accept the full consequences of their anti-social behaviour without flinching.

Well-known troublespots would be subject to spot searches, road blocks and saturation policing, he said. Organised crime would be targeted especially, as would anyone who murdered a police officer. More than a 100 officers have died so far this year.