Many cash-strapped Zimbabweans travel to South Africa in search of bargains they cannot afford to buy at home. For the editor of a weekly Zimbabwean magazine, who traveled the back roads of South Africa in search of a second-hand car, the real discovery was the state of lawlessness that many black South Africans appear to accept as an inevitable part of life. PNS correspondent Donatus Bonde edits Moto Magazine in Gweru, Zimbabwe.

JOHANNESBURG -- The transition from apartheid to democracy in the new South Africa has spawned a lawlessness that borders on anarchy. What is particularly galling for a Zimbabwean visitor to discover is how many black South Africans accept this new state of warfare as inevitable.

While Cape Town is emerging as Africa's major bazaar and transit point for hard drugs, Johannesburg has become the "murder capital" of the world. Early in November, two prominent South Africa sports persons -- a world-ranking boxer and a soccer club manager -- were shot dead here in separate conflicts over parking space and reckless driving. In September, four tourists from New Zealand and England were robbed, assaulted and two of the women repeatedly raped by a typical eight-man, armed gang. They were lucky to escape with their lives. A suspected Johannesburg serial killer, whose head count has been placed at a conservative 40 (black women and a boy) was cornered and captured in October.

These are not isolated examples. The World Health Organization (WHO) ranked South Africa as the most dangerous country outside a war zone. Traveling through township shopping malls and poor urban neighborhoods in search of a second hand car (prohibitively expensive in my country) I felt a naked fear unlike any other I have experienced, even on New York subways.

To try to explain the current lawlessness as the logical end of an unfair politico-economic system makes sense, but only half way. It would seem South Africa's crime crisis is due as much to the citizens' own long history of violent ethnic chauvinism, predating the colonial era, as to the legacy of apartheid.

In KwaZulu/Natal, South Africa's most volatile corner, an average of 60 people die each week in violence rooted in 19th century as well as modern-day tribal politics. This, after all, is the land of the legendary Shaka, who built the Zulu nation through a revolutionary upheaval that permanently transformed the sub-region's politics. Today Shaka inspires Zulu politicians and their followers to reclaim their historical supremacy. As they romanticize about their glorious past, it is painful for Zulus to play second fiddle to "lesser" tribes such as the Xhosa, who dominate the ruling African National Congress.

Fr. Simangoliso Mkhatshwa, a Roman Catholic priest and ANC Member of Parliament, is quick to claim that political violence has dropped in the country as a whole. He blames KwaZulu/Natal's problems on agitators pushing for greater autonomy and on "organized criminal elements" -- drug syndicates, taxi wars, etc. He underscores the government's commitment to resolve political conflicts through negotiation rather than crackdowns.

But there may be too many guns around for conflict resolution to work -- guns imported illegally during Mozambique's civil war; guns pilfered from covert government operations during the dying days of apartheid; and crude, home-made guns as deadly as automatic AK-47 rifles.

A visitor cannot help but wonder whether President Mandela's government moved too soon with progressive human rights reforms before addressing glaring social ills. Applauded by the international community, the government abolished the death penalty and released scores of criminals from prison. But in the dusty, impoverished township of Klaarwater 15 miles outside of Durban, where wild marijuana plants grow undisturbed by the sidewalk and emaciated dogs keep residents awake at night with their own turf battles, scores of unemployed, barely literate, and angry youth wait in vain for the government to deliver salvation. This is where the faction fighting between the ANC and the Zulu-based Inkatha Freedom Party is most intense.

Meanwhile a wave of xenophobia and immigrant-bashing has swept over the country. Illegal aliens (mainly from South Africa's impoverished neighbors Mozambique, Zimbabwe and Malawi) have become the favorite scapegoats for crime and "taking away our jobs" at both official and street levels. Many in desperation have now gone underground, joining ranks with local marauding gangs that prey on anything that smells of money.

Whites, whose opulence makes them obvious targets of crime, have transformed their plush neighborhoods into high tech fortresses, and a vigilante culture has begun to take over because the regular police have failed to keep law and order. Today the newspapers splash sob-stories of mostly white parents whose sons and daughters in the police force die violently in the line of duty. Many are emigrating to more peaceful countries such as Australia and New Zealand. Some who fled from Zimbabwe in 1980 are re-applying for residency.

By contrast many black South Africans seem to accept the escalating violence as everyday life. On a commuter omnibus plying the Durban-Jo'burg route, the foul-tempered driver shouted obscenities at traffic cops manning a routine road block. In a subsequent vindictive shake-down, police recovered an unlicensed pistol from the driver and arrested him on the spot, delaying the bus for three hours.

A scared fellow passenger explained that the driver had only been taking necessary precautions. The week before, Park Station, the sprawling commuter bus terminal in Johannesburg, had been the scene of bloody gun fights between rival operators. "In Johannesburg they kill a person on Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, Friday and Saturday," the passenger observed. "On Sunday they gather to bury the victims."