"What kind of society has ours become? Does any grievance now justify any violence?"
"And where is the outrage and the concern of the government at this moment of crisis for our communities and our people?" Leon asked. He accused Mbeki of attacking those who spoke openly about crime.
Instead of railing against racists - real and imagined - Mbeki and the rest of the cabinet should spend less time roaming the world and a little more time tending the fences at home, which had been breached by the army of violent criminals performing acts of gratuitous violence almost at will.
"There is no doubt that global issues such as peace in Israel/Palestine and the reform of the United Nations are important.
"But ask the average South African whether he would prefer the president to concentrate his time on those issues, or to secure his neighbourhood or township from the scourge of criminality, and for his wife and daughter to be free from the fear of rape - and the answer is, as they say, a
no-brainer.
"But the president and the senior leaders of the ANC do not understand, because they are almost completely insulated from crime.
"They surround themselves with bodyguards and VIP protection officers.
"President Mbeki himself has more protection officers, and travels with more security vehicles than any president in our country's history.
"The big men and women of government live in a safe and luxurious bubble and have no idea what ordinary South Africans go through every day," Leon said.
Minister in the Presidency Essop Pahad even dismissed crime as nothing more than "an ever-handy swart gevaar tactic".
"Perhaps he should visit victims of crime - white and black - and repeat that comment to them."
The reality was that crime haunted black communities just as much as, if not more than, other communities.
Leon said even reinstating the death penalty for particularly heinous crimes would not be enough.
"It is almost useless to talk about sentencing when less than 10 percent of violent crimes result in a conviction."
"More than the death penalty, what South Africa desperately needs is bold leadership in the fight against crime.
"But the president and the ANC have responded with evasion and indifference. "How many more must die before they take notice, and act?"
