Nadine Gordimer sees the men who attacked her in her home as symbolic of the challenges facing South Africa.

As an 82-year-old woman confronted by four fit young men out to rob her home, Nadine Gordimer might have been paralysed by terror at the thought of what has befallen others in Johannesburg.

Just a few weeks earlier, an elderly couple were shot and stabbed to death in their house. They were two among the thousands murdered, beaten or raped every year -often during burglaries - in one of the most dangerous cities in the world.

But Gordimer won the Nobel prize for literature in 1991 for her insights into racial and economic divides that cut through South African society. As the thieves grabbed the widowed author and her 66-year-old domestic servant, she was overcome more by sympathy than fear. "One grabbed me and had his arm across me. It was a muscular, smooth arm and I thought, 'Shouldn't there be a better use for these hands, this arm than robbing an old woman?' What a waste of four young men. They should have jobs," she said.

The robbers were after cash and car keys, which Gordimer did not hesitate to hand over. But after one of the thieves pushed her into her bedroom she balked at surrendering the wedding ring from her husband, Reinhold Cassirer, who died five years ago. "He pulled off my ring. He held me tight, against his chest. I was very close to his face and could see he had very little beard. He didn't shave often. I would put his age at 18 to 22," she said.

The two women were then locked in a storeroom. They were released about 30 minutes later by security guards who had been alerted by the domestic worker hitting an alarm button.

A week later, Gordimer was keen to view the incident from the other side. The robbers, she said, are products of a society grappling with the legacy of South Africa's past. "I know that South Africa has a terrible problem with crime, with violent crime. But I don't think the answer is more police. I think we must look at the reasons behind the crime. There are young people in poverty without opportunities. They need education, training and employment. That is the way to reduce crime," she said.

Gordimer, who is a member of the ruling African National Congress, said the men who robbed her were a symptom of the challenges facing South Africa. "South Africa needs a huge jobs programme, like what Roosevelt did in the United States. That will prevent youth from turning to crime," she said.

Gordimer said she is embarrassed by the fuss surrounding the robbery, but said she had been buoyed by a flood of support. "I have received so many messages of support, from friends here in South Africa and all over the world, from India and Europe. Chinua Achebe [the Nigerian author] has called me twice," she said.