South Africans live in fear of house robbers, drug addicts and rapists - and worse, they believe many of the people meant to protect them are on the take. In addition, at least 83% of South Africans believe corruption has increased in the past year, according to a new Transparency International survey of perceptions of graft in sub-Saharan Africa.Also yesterday, Statistics SA released its Victims of Crime survey, which showed that people we re increasingly fearful of crime."Most of the households were of the opinion that the levels of both violent and non-violent crime had increased in their areas of residence [between] 2011 and 2014," the Stats SA report said.It said burglary was the most feared crime, followed by house robbery.The latest Africa Global Corruption Barometer, compiled by Transparency International and Afrobarometer, surveyed 28 countries, interviewing 43143 citizens between March last year and September this year. Countries surveyed included South Africa, Nigeria, Liberia, Senegal, Ghana, Namibia, Zambia, Zimbabwe and Kenya.Across all 28 countries the police, business, the government and the courts were perceived as corrupt.In South Africa only 7% of respondents said they had paid a bribe, but 22% of people in other participating countries admitted that they had done so.The survey found that 58% of all people surveyed across all 28 countries believed the incidence of graft was rising.Botswana scored well, 54% of respondents there indicated that their government was doing well in combating corruption.Tellingly, in South Africa - rocked by a number of corruption scandals, including the spending of R246-million on President Jacob Zuma's private home in Nkandla - 79% of the respondents think the government is doing poorly in fighting corruption.In Zimbabwe the figure is 80%."People are outraged. They see this huge spending as part of government corruption," said Corruption Watch director David Lewis.Respondents in Sierra Leone, Nigeria, Liberia and Ghana were the most negative about the scale of corruption in their countries.Transparency International secretary Chantal Uwimana said that though some of the survey questions were based on citizens' perceptions, the gap between perceptions and reality was found to be small. She said in South Africa there was high awareness of corruption."I think one of the key elements is the level of media exposing of corruption scandals and the response to those [exposés]. Do citizens really perceive that once a scandal is [brought to] light [the] government takes the right measures? Are those who are suspected of corruption really suffering the consequences?"Lewis said the poor state of the criminal justice system is one of the reasons for high corruption in South Africa, and that difficulty in prosecuting white-collar crime contributes to the problem.Stats SA's Victims of Crime survey points out that 77% of South Africans believe drugs use is the cause of most crimes. One in three South Africans listed being sexually assaulted as their biggest fear.To avoid becoming victims of crime, 51.6% of South Africans have taken measures to protect their homes. In 2012-2013, the figure was 49.4%.The theft of personal property (1.9%) was the most prevalent crime experienced by individuals from the age of 16, says the report."What this shows us is that South Africans are increasing feeling less safe," said Johan Burger, senior researcher at the Institute for Security Studies."For the past three years we have seen dramatic increases in violent crime," he said.Additional reporting by AFP..