Cape Town — President Jacob Zuma 's promise to reduce crime by between 7% and 10% was short on detail, opposition parties said yesterday.

Zuma told the joint sitting of both houses of Parliament that ordinary citizens could make a difference in the fight against crime by not buying stolen goods, participating in police forums, reporting crime and by assisting the police.

The state, in turn, would complete the reform of the criminal justice system to create a "transformed, integrated, modernised, properly resourced and well-managed criminal justice system".

"Among the immediate targets is to ensure that we increase the number of prosecutors and Legal Aid Board personnel. We will do the same with police detectives," Zuma said.

"We changed the name of the relevant ministry from safety and security to police to emphasise that we want real operational energy in police work. This will contribute to the reduction of serious and violent crimes by the set target of 7% to 10% per annum."

Zuma said serious attention would also be given to combating organised crime, as well as crimes against women and children .

Another key initiative would be to beef up security at SA's notoriously porous borders through the creation of a border management agency.

Zuma said his government would pay attention to fighting corruption in the public service, "in procurement and tender processes, application for drivers' licences, social grants, IDs, and theft of police case dockets".

He rang alarm bells by saying further regulation lay ahead for the private security industry. "While appreciating the investment of the private sector in the security industry, we will improve the regulation of this industry." The private security industry, which contains substantial international investment , is for many beleaguered South Africans all that stands between them and an unacceptably high crime rate.

Even many government departments, including most police stations, rely on the private security industry for their protection.

Freedom Front Plus leader Pieter Mulder said Zuma had failed to say what he meant to do other than further regulate the industry .

Zuma also promised to oversee the continued transformation of the judiciary. Similar efforts by the previous government to transform the judiciary brought consternation in the profession. The Superior Courts Bill and an associated constitutional amendment had to be shelved in early 2007 after complaints they infringed on the independence of the judiciary.

Zuma said there was government support for "the continued transformation of the judiciary". He earned the approval of Democratic Alliance (DA) leader Helen Zille by stressing that this would include the "enhancement of judicial independence".

Others, including the DA's parliamentary leader, Athol Trollip, said there was a concern that transformation of the judiciary would be similar to that in other areas and would include the deployment of ANC cadres to key positions.

On the issue of fighting crime, Trollip said that simply changing the ministry name from safety and security to police would not get the job done -- "we need more detail".

Congress of the People parliamentary leader Mvume Dandala echoed these thoughts, saying the speech was short on details of how these things would be implemented.