Johannesburg - A total of 55% of private business owners in South Africa were affected by contact crime in the past year - almost 10% down from last year, a report showed on Wednesday.

This is according to Grant Thornton's 2010 International Business Report (IBR) released on Wednesday.

In addition, the report found that the percentage of business owners considering emigration was down 1% since last year - with 18% responding that they had given serious consideration to leaving the country.

The two main reasons cited for this were a high crime rate (69%) and political uncertainty (42%).

More than 300 South African privately held business owners were asked if they, any of their employees or immediate family, had been directly affected by contact crimes (road rage, hijackings, personal security threat, violent crime or housebreakings) in the past year and 55% said yes.

However, this figure was 9% lower than a year ago, when it was 64%, the report found.

This indicated "a significant improvement" in just 12 months.

"It's still unacceptably high," said Leonard Brehm, national chairperson of Grant Thornton SA.

"More than half of the survey population has been affected by crime in the past year.

Fewer firms want to emigrate

"The sad conclusion is that crime is still a major problem."

The good news was that the responses were consistently lower each year.

"When we started surveying the impact of crime on South African privately held business owners in 2007, an astonishing 84% had been directly affected by crime during the 12 months under review," Brehm added.

"Now, just four years later, the figure is almost 30% lower," he said.

In terms of business owners considering emigration, the figures also indicated a lower percentage each year.

In 2009, 32% responded they were considering leaving, while 2010's data revealed just 18%.

"Remarkably, the reasons for considering emigration have also dramatically dropped since 2009," Brehm said.

Last year, 93% of respondents blamed the high crime rate for considering emigration, but this year it was down to 69%.

Financial impact of crime 'harsh'

The report found that political uncertainty also decreased from 2009 (72%) with a 30% drop in responses to 42% in 2010.

According to the report, Gauteng and the Western Cape recorded the lowest responses relating to whether business owners had been affected by crime in the past year (both 49%), while the Eastern Cape and KZN were considerably higher - both at 62%.

The only province to see an increase in responses as to whether business owners had been affected by crime was in the Western Cape, and this increase was a marginal 3%.

When South African business owners were asked to describe how the threat to personal security affected business operations, increased costs of security (50%) and decreased motivation (17%) were the two highest items identified.

"This is a clear indication that organisations experience a harsh financial impact of crime," Brehm said, although all factors had less impact than in previous years.

"We are encouraged by the fact that there has been an improving trend over the years but the effect and cost of contact crime on business remains appalling," he added.

- Sapa