Johannesburg  - South Africa's presidential front-runner Jacob Zuma on Thursday blasted what he called his country's "soft approach" on crime and hinted he was not adverse to vigilante justice.

Zuma was addressing leaders of the country's Afrikaner minority, whom he praised as the only "true South Africans" among the country's white population.

Zuma is campaigning for general elections on April 22 that his African National Congress (ANC) party is expected to win.

Crime is a key election issue, given the country's high levels of violent crime. Around 50 people are murdered each day in South Africa. The same number experiences an attempt on their life every day.

In some instances, police have been found to be complicit in crime. Thousands of firearms go missing from police stocks every year, some of which are suspected to have been sold.

Zuma called for police officers who are found guilty of crimes to be given double the punishment of a civilian offender.

The popular politician also hinted that he supported vigilante justice, which is widely practiced in the country, saying: "I don't kill, but if they did such a thing (if someone killed another) I'm sure I would have to do instant justice."

In his Zulu culture, he said, "If you did something wrong, you're dealt with now."

This election is more exciting than previous elections since democracy in 1994 because of the emergence of a breakaway party of former senior ANC members.

The Congress of the People was formed by a group of ANC members who remain loyal to ex-president Thabo Mbeki after the ANC ousted him as president in September last year.

Since 2007, the year in which he toppled Mbeki as ANC leader, Zuma has been reaching out to white South Africans, some of whom feel alienated by 15 years of affirmative action aimed at uplifting the previously subjugated black majority.

Zuma assured them affirmative action would "die a natural death" as the majority gradually became empowered.

Praising Afrikaners as deeply rooted in the African continent, where Dutch settlers first landed at the Cape in 1652, he said that, of all the white groups in South Africa, Afrikaners were the only "true South Africans."

Zuma skimmed over apartheid, which was implemented by the Afrikaner National Party, in his address to the mostly middle-aged, male religious and cultural leaders.

He even had praise for the controversial Afrikaner enclave of Orania, a privately-owned town in the remote Northern Cape province, to which around 40 white families retreated after apartheid to govern themselves.

Orania's self sufficiency was an inspiration in the fight against poverty, according to Zuma.

Zuma has been criss-crossing the country for months to try to shore up support for the ANC, which has more than two-thirds of seats in Parliament but has been damaged by the party split and several corruption affairs.

Zuma himself is accused of corruption in relation to a 1990s arms deal, when he was deputy president. His trial has been set for August but his lawyers have been pleading with state prosecutors to drop the charges before the election.

The prosecutors are due to announce their decision on Friday.

"He's a nice guy," Louis Meintjes, deputy president of TAU, a union of mainly white farmers, told the German Press Agency dpa "He's looking for answers and he listens." (dpa)