SA piracy stats are unacceptably high, despite improvements

SA Federation Against Copyright Theft chief executive officer James Lennox released what he called "record statistics" for the first three months of the year, according to this report in IOL.

Comparing the first three months of this year to the same period last year, Lennox said enforcement action against pirate operations across the country was up from 62 last year to 170, arrests were up from 22 last year to 97, and convictions up from six last year to 44. While piracy levels in South Africa remained unacceptably high, he expected significant progress during the next two years.

Meanwhile, in Ray Hartley's blog (quoting Adams and Adams) in TheTimes.co.za "one in five South Africans are “quite unconcerned” about STEALING intellectual property. EXTRACT:

The firm [Adams and Adams] was citing the findings of a survey by TNS Research Surveys which it said was “shocking”.
“These buyers give no thought to copyright or other intellectual property rights and make a significant contribution to the problem.”
Chairman of the firm, Chris Job, said counterfeiting and piracy had increased across all product categories.
He said the prosecution of counterfeiters and pirates had also increased, but not in the same proportion.
“Whilst South Africa has excellent laws to protect intellectual property, its enforcement record can still be improved.”"