Police Minister Senzo Mchunu's budget speech was met with wide-ranging criticism, including that some politicians are treated like celebrities in terms of their security, while the number of murders in South Africa is almost that of a war zone.

"Minister, our communities are living in fear of criminals. I was a victim of crime, extortion in particular, in Khayelitsha recently, where I was kidnapped and hijacked...

"Everything happened in full view of the public ... even when I was taken to this place where I was supposed to be killed ... I counted five different footsteps of people who were told not to pay attention, to mind their own business, while I was tied up ready to be shot."

These were the words of United Democratic Movement deputy president Nqabayomzi Kwankwa to Police Minister Senzo Mchunu in Parliament on Tuesday, 16 July.

During the same meeting, ActionSA's Dereleen James spoke about how "this weekend I had to jump off my bed because they were shooting on the corner of my house in Eldorado Park".

Kwankwa and James were among those allocated time to respond in Parliament to Mchunu after he presented his first budget speech.

His address was largely met with criticism, with the focus shifting to corruption in the South African Police Service (SAPS), the need for more stringent plans to prevent criminals from accessing firearms, the country's high murder rate and the exorbitant VIP protection budget.

R113.5bn...