He believes there's one chief reason for that: Few South Africans trust law enforcement because in recent years, the police force has become politicized, with higher ranking officers who are politically appointed.

"In 1994 there was a push to have policing more community-focused, there was more legislation to focus on that," he said.

"There was a distrust related to our heritage," he says, referring to apartheid, "and unfortunately, over the years, we've gone back to that. I saw it often when I was a detective.

There are undoubtedly more home invasions, he said, than are officially counted.

"People don't even want to report a crime," he said, "because they don't believe anything is going to come of it."