South Africa - Almost Full Potential

I’m not sure how to spin this in the most positive way possible… so please forgive me if I offend anyone from SA (this is merely an observation). Like I stated before, I loved South Africa and would recommend it to anyone who would want to travel to possibly the most beautiful place on earth (NZ and SA are neck and neck in my book).
However, South Africa saddened me, as I’m sure it also does for many of the people living there. In this country there’s one big problem that hangs like a rain cloud over Table Mountain on an otherwise sunny day: crime. And I’m not just talking petty, take your wallet theft, but violent, “Smash and Grab” (and sometimes stab or shoot) crime. Most of the locals we spoke with had been “hijacked” once or twice, and most knew of someone who met a slightly more grizzly demise at the hands of a thief.
I suppose I was so sensitive to this, because after visiting places like Morocco and Egypt, South Africa had more money, infrastructure and “western” technological advances than they knew what to do with, but is unable to quell the rise of violent crime. It’s really sad to see a country like this with potential that many other countries around the world long for (ie tap water that you can drink in most cities) and see them struggle with the distribution of wealth, unemployment and crime. They say that apartheid ended back in the 1990’s officially, but the after-effects and separation of wealth are still very evident.
On a positive note, most everyone in SA is looking forward to the advances in security and clean up efforts associated with hosting the 2010 World Cup Football (Soccer – SA calls it soccer too…). There’s a ton of activity going on in Jo’burg, Durban and one other city (I think Cape Town, but don’t quote me on that) to make the cities ready for the influx of tourists in 2010.

Ed addition: Bill brings up a good point, look at all the progress that they've made in the last 20 years, with the end of apartheid, and where they are now. Let's hope that the rise in crime is only a pot hole on the road to unity.
~S