South Africa is setting world records when it comes to the speedy arrest of serial killers.
This accolade is, however, marred by the fact that the country ranks among three of the world's most notorious countries when it comes to serial murderers. The other two are Russia and the United States.
Since 1936, 71 serial murderers have been identified in South Africa. Of these, 11 are still at large.
Johannesburg and Pretoria are the worst affected cities in South Africa, and Gauteng and KwaZulu-Natal the worst provinces when it comes to serial killers.
Up to five new serial killers are identified across the country every year.
These revelations come less than a week after an alleged serial killer, dubbed the Quarry Killer by police, was arrested by members of a task team assigned to capturing the man.
Police, who arrested the man in connection with the murder of an unidentified woman in September 2002, are trying to link him to the latest series of killings.
Since January, the bodies of 12 women were found in and around the Olievenhoutbosch and Samrand areas near Centurion.
Six of the victims, only four of whom were identified, were found dumped along the edge of the Samrand quarry less than 1km from Rooihuiskraal. The remaining bodies were found close to the quarry at a stream running through Olievenhoutbosch.
It took the police three months since the establishment of the task team to apprehend the suspect.
South African Police Service Investigative Psychology Unit (IPU) commander Dr Gérard Labuschagne said the country led the way when it came to the speedy arrest of serial killers.
"On average it takes about three months before we capture a serial killer," said Labuschagne, adding that the unit had a 70 percent success rate in capturing these killers.
As well as investigating serial murderers, the IPU, which was established when the Station Strangler terrorised residents of the Western Cape, is also involved in solving serial rapes, muti murders, mass murders and murders that have a sexual nature, such as rape killings.
Labuschagne said that since the establishment of the unit in 1996, a total of 42 serial killers or alleged serial killers had been arrested.
He said that in the unit's history there were only 16 serial murderers who had not been arrested, "and this was because the killers have stopped their crimes and gone to ground.
"In every case where the suspect has continued killing, we have caught the perpetrator, and we've had a 100 percent success rate with every court case," said Labuschagne, who is one of three members of the IPU.
Defining a serial killer, Labuschagne said there was usually a psychological motive behind the murder, with the killer usually operating alone.
"A serial killer, who usually operates in an area he is familiar with, is identified after two or more separate murders, which usually have a similar modus operandi, occur."
He said it was unknown what caused someone to become a serial killer, with some of them having normal upbringings while others had traumatic childhoods.
"These people usually kill because they have a sexual desire to commit the crime; want some sort of power; are mentally ill; seeking attention; or because they are on a 'mission' to rid society of a particular person.
"South Africa's serial killers, who have always been men, usually kill because they want power or for sexual reasons."
Labuschagne said that, on average, four to five new serial killers were discovered every year in South Africa.
"The more we train people to identify and catch serial killers, the more we find," he explained.