Imagine a society free of fear; in which all citizens know their rights, are respectful of the law and understand the consequences of violating it.

Imagine waking up in the morning, secure and safe. Imagine walking freely in our streets late at night with confidence and peace of mind.

Imagine a country where criminals are speedily apprehended and prosecuted; where victims of crime are treated with compassion and understanding; and where people are confident that those prosecuted will be brought to justice.

Imagine laying a charge at a police station, where you are served quickly, your case is accurately documented and your passage through the criminal justice system is marked by efficiency, respect and compassion.

Imagine seeing your child off to school, knowing that she will be safe from harm and will be properly cared for until you collect her.

Imagine not knowing anyone who has been a victim of violent crime.

These are difficult images for most South Africans to conjure up, for the simple reason that crime, and the fear of crime, is a constant presence in our lives. It is the greatest burden on our collective psyche. It is a symbol of the tragic failure of our government to take care of its people.

People used to talk of a "crime wave". But I want to tell you today that there is no crime wave. A wave is temporary. It swells, breaks and then washes on the shore leaving calmer waters behind.

What we face is a crime tsunami. It rises and rises until it devastates everything in its path, leaving only the debris of shattered lives in its wake.

We live in fear of being murdered, raped, robbed or assaulted by a criminal army which grows larger and more brazen with every passing day.

This is not a perception, as our President claims; it is the inescapable conclusion to be drawn from the statistics put out by the police themselves.

These figures tell us that one out of every ten South Africans is physically assaulted, mugged, raped, hijacked or murdered every year. In the fourteen years since our democracy dawned, over ten million people have fallen victim to violent crime. Every day 50 people are murdered and more than 100 women and children are raped.

But these statistics don't tell the real story. They cannot convey the tragedy of the brutal murder of 10 year-old Seloane Booysen from Bloemfontein who was murdered last week and left on the side of the road to be discovered by a passer-by.

Seloane, the eldest child in her family, lived in the Pieter Swarts informal settlement. Yet, as a keen grade one pupil at Laerskool Bloemfontein-Oos, she could look to the future with hope for a better life.

The statistics cannot describe the impact that this tragedy has on people's lives. Seloane Booysen's parents have lost their daughter; her family is traumatised; and a community reels from the shock of another violent and senseless crime.

And yet somehow, in spite of these terrible reversals, we get involved where we can in the fight against crime. We join our Neighbourhood Watch Programmes and our Community Police Forums. We help the police whenever we are able.

But we need to do more. We need to ask the hard questions. We need to ask why we live in fear at a time in our country's history when we should have such hope. We need to ask why the system fails us again and again and again.

The simple answer is that criminals know that they can get away with it.

They rely on the police's inability to find and arrest them; on police dockets that simply disappear; on evidence that goes missing or does not stand up in court; on cases that drag on and on until they are dismissed.

They assume that at every step of the arrest and conviction process, there will be an official who can be bribed to make the case collapse.

And this is why South Africans have lost confidence in the state to prevent crime, to apprehend suspects and to successfully convict the perpetrators.

But we must never give up.

We must never forget that in a democracy, underwritten by a Constitution, we have rights. We have the right to life; we have the right to live in peace; we have the right to demand protection from our government.

And so today we say: enough is enough. Today is the day that we declare war on crime.

And it is a war. South Africa is a country at war with itself. It is war that has left more people dead than the war in Iraq.

It is a war between the drug-dealing gangsters and the communities that live in fear of them.

It is a war between the rapists and the women and children they prey upon.

It is a war between the hijackers, the thieves and the murderers, and those who are held up and robbed and killed.

It is a war between good and evil.

Today we salute the unsung heroes of this war.

They are the brave men and women of our police force who stand on the front line. They are the police officers that have sacrificed their lives to fight crime.

These are the troops, who have been deserted by those in government who should be leading the charge. They have been left ill-equipped and under-resourced for the battle they must wage.

When DA MPs visit police stations, they find the same problems at every one. There are not enough personnel; staff members are inadequately trained; there are not enough weapons, there are not enough vehicles and -most shocking of all-there are not enough life-saving bullet-proof vests.

Here at the Heidedal police station, the DA discovered a shortfall of twenty bullet-proof vests and six vehicles. We believe the shortage of bullet-proof vests to be in the region of 20,000 country-wide.

But we cannot know for sure because government denies that there are shortages and refuses to release official figures on police resources. In fact, government denies that crime is a problem - full-stop.

Last year President Mbeki declared: "Nobody can prove that the majority of the country's 40 to 50 million citizens think that crime is spinning out of control."

Perhaps if Mbeki ever left the safety of his VIP security, he would not feel quite so confident. Perhaps if he had taken the time to see for himself what it is like in a community where people live in fear of armed gangsters, he would think differently.

We are losing the war against crime because our government is out of touch with reality. We are losing the war because, instead of targeting criminals, our government targets those who voice their fears.

Who can forget the day that Safety and Security Minister Charles Nqakula told Parliament that South Africans concerned about crime have two choices - they could either "whinge until they are blue in the face" or "simply leave this country".

The tragedy is that more and more people are taking the Minister's advice and are leaving our shores. Over half of South Africans who emigrate say that violence, crime and corruption are their main reasons for going.

When they leave, they take their skills and capital with them. This is a loss to our country that we cannot afford.

If we cannot retain highly skilled South Africans, we cannot create jobs. If we cannot create jobs, people are more likely to turn to crime. This is a vicious cycle that we must break if we are to succeed as a nation.

And what of those South Africans who do not have the means, the skills or the inclination to emigrate? Minister Nqakula never explained what would happen to them.

Concern about crime is not the preserve of any one group. It is an issue that unites all South Africans in fear. It is the ever-present reality for every person in this country - from Sea Point to Soweto, from Durban to De Aar, from Hoedspruit to Heidedal.

Nowhere are the effects of crime more harshly felt than in our poorest communities. People who cannot afford private security, electric fences and high walls are the soft targets. Our government has left them to the mercy of the gangsters and criminals who operate in these communities with total impunity.

Some people have expressed hope that things will be different should Jacob Zuma become our President next year. They see him as a man in touch with the people, a leader who will take a firm stand against crime.

What they don't understand is that Jacob Zuma is, in his own words, merely a loyal cadre of his party. He has no policies of his own and he has no vision for a crime-free South Africa.

In fact, the party that Zuma belongs to has become a haven for convicted and suspected criminals. Some in his party have declared that they are even willing to "shoot and kill" if Zuma is found guilty of corruption.

This is the same party that has dismantled every specialised unit in the police force, with disastrous consequences:

• Since the government disbanded the South African Narcotics Bureau in 2004, drug-related crimes have increased by a staggering 30%.
• Since the Child Protection Units were closed down, crimes against children have increased. Last year saw the number of children murdered rise by 22% from the previous year.
• Since the closure of the Commando Units, violence in rural areas has skyrocketed. Last year, farm attacks across the country increased by 25%.

The party that Zuma leads wants to disband the Scorpions, in order to protect the criminals in its own ranks. It is obvious to all that the real reason for shutting down the Scorpions is that they were too successful in exposing corruption in high places.

The Scorpions are to go the same way as the Anti-Corruption Unit, whose mandate was to root out corruption in the SAPS.  In 2002, National Police Commissioner Jackie Selebi took a decision to close this unit down. This decision was made behind closed doors and no explanation was given.

Selebi's motive only recently became clear, when it emerged that the he had allegedly taken bribes from drug king-pin Glen Agliotti.  

Without the Scorpions, neither Selebi nor Agliotti would have been investigated and Agliotti would still be free to peddle his drugs on the streets.

Without the Scorpions, there will be no unit outside the police to investigate the policemen who collude with drug dealers and international drug syndicates.

Without the Scorpions, it is unlikely that Jacob Zuma would ever have been charged with corruption.

When government takes decisions based on the interests of the ruling party's leaders, rather than the people they are supposed to serve, we know we are in trouble. It is no wonder that public confidence in the criminal justice system is at an all-time low.

But I believe that with the right policies, the right attitude and the right leadership we can win this war and restore people's faith.

We can do it if we start with the basics. We must:

• Ensure that our police force is competent and incorruptible;
• Provide the police with the resources, equipment and training they need to fulfil their duties;
• Ensure that those who break the law are detected, arrested, prosecuted and punished;
• Empower Communities to protect themselves from criminals.

Over the next two weeks, the DA will be taking up the fight in communities all over South Africa. We will be staging marches, holding public meetings, visiting police stations, delivering leaflets and talking to victims.

We will also launch our national crime policy. We will show people that the war against crime is not a lost cause. We will show that crime is not something we have to accept as a fact of life, like the weather or taxes. We will show that the DA has a plan to win the war.

Every law-abiding South African wants the war to be won and the criminals defeated. It is time to stand up and be counted. If we work together, we will win. We have the will, the vision and the people.

This article by Helen Zille first appeared in SA Today, the weekly online newsletter from the leader of the Democratic Alliance, July 25 2008