South Africa's last white president, Mr F.W. de Klerk, appealed today for an all-out assault on crime after attending a memorial service for his murdered ex-wife.
"It is my sincere hope that this dastardly deed will once again act as a wake-up call to all of us in South Africa that we must get a grip on the crime situation," he told reporters.
Marike de Klerk (64) was found stabbed and strangled to death on Tuesday in her Cape Town beachfront apartment, where she had lived alone since her divorce from the former president in 1998.
Police said she had been killed the previous morning, possibly by an intruder who entered her apartment through an unlocked balcony door.
A suspect was arrested yesterday morning and provincial police Commissioner Mr Lennit Max said in a statement today a 21-year-old guard employed to protect the Dolphin Beach complex had confessed to the killing before a magistrate late yesterday evening. Police have declined to speculate on a motive.
Scores of apartheid-era politicians joined Mr de Klerk, his son, Willem, and his second wife, Elita, at a memorial service in Mrs de Klerk's favourite church.
Speaking to reporters for the first time since he heard of his former wife's murder, Mr de Klerk said it had sent a negative message across the world.
"I will continue to dedicate myself to ensure that we take hands in South Africa on the big challenges - today we focus on the big challenge of crime - to ensure that across political divides and across whatever divides we have, we fight crime and bring our country back to the strength of much greater normality in this regard," he said.