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Crime in South Africa

Expat Guide on Crime and Safety in Cape Town

The high rate of crime in South Africa is of major concern for tourists planning to come to this year's Worldcup events as it is for expatriates moving to or living in Cape Town.

South Africa has got one of the highest crime rate per 100,000 residents in the world regarding assault, rape and murder as shown in various statistics and was getting lots of undesirable attention recently for being dubbed as the 5th most dangerous city, so called "murder-capital" in the world. However the figures are somewhat skewed, so you should look at the content of the crime statistics in more detail.

Cape Town is often referred to as one of the high-risk areas in the world with a murder rate on par with that of Rio de Janeiro according to the United Nations in 2006.

With 1797 murders with a population of roughly 4,785,000 residents in Cape Town the murder ratio is around 55 murders for every 100,000 persons. These are shocking figures for sure. But you should know more about Crime in Cape Town and know also where most of the crime happens.

How safe is Cape Town?

Expat Living in Cape Town

The South African crime rate sounds and is intimidating, but I do not want to hide the fact that if you are prepared to investigate thoroughly where to move and how to get to work safely and where to go and where not, living in the Mother City is not more dangerous for expatriates normally as living in London or New York.

We are living in Cape Town for more than four years now and have never had any trouble or worries for our personal safety, although we had some bad experiences relating to criminal activities in the business environment, like burglary and white collar crime.

However you will have to stay clear of the more dangerous areas, but also our friends in various different suburbs all over the Cape peninsula live peacefully here for years without ever haven encountered any serious violence.

Surely you have heard about the xenophobic outbreaks in South Africa, which were broadcast all over the world last year.

In my article on Xenophobia I will give you some info on the current situation in Cape Town (January 2010).

If you take some basic precautions you should not have to worry about your personal safety too much and you will feel and stay safe.

For further information on these specific precautions which you should take on not to become a victim of crime in South Africa, read my recommendations and safety tips for Cape Town.

Crime and violence affect everybody like everywhere else in the world and here in Cape Town mainly the poorer areas are affected by the horrifying figures.

There are certain areas especially the Cape Flats which are no-go areas for you if you are not accompanied by a local guide.

ExpatCapeTown Advice: If you are not sure the area you plan to visit or travel through is safe, get information on the area beforehand or contact the local police station.

Cape Town Crime Statistics 2009: Security Issues

For car-jacking, theft and robbery the middle class and more well-heeled population are especially targeted.

However the numbers have quite significantly decreased in the Western Cape since the last statistics in 2007/8.

• carjacking (-24.4%)

• robbery with aggravating circumstances (-19.7%)

• common assault (-10.8%)

• attempted murder (-11.8%)

The southern suburbs as well as Hout Bay had more recent spade of car-jacking, so many of the neighborhoods put on awareness campaigns and stepped up security with private watches and more visible police presence.

Many suburbs have got their own neighborhood watch teams on the road which patrol the streets day and night and so cut down on criminal offences drastically.

Robbery at business and residential premises are unfortunately escalating and increased for robberies at residential premises by 27.3%, so you should be aware that you must:

• choose one of the safer areas to live

• invest in a good alarm system

• learn to watch your environment carefully

Crime rate in Cape Town

Serious offences like street muggings (which however are involving increasingly handguns), smash and grab robberies and pick-pocketing are a common occurrence in many cities around the world.

For the last seven years there is decrease in serious crime rates evident according to the statistics which were released in September 2009.

For April 2008 - March 2009 the statistics show a trend of decreasing rates in most of the categories relating to serious crime in the Western Cape, but there is a tendency to more

• drug-related offenses (+5.6% Western Cape)

• commercial crime (+8.2% Western Cape)

• robberies at business premises (+41.1% nationwide)

The low down of the statistical data is however that only reported crime are taken into the data, the real figures are estimated to be higher, as for example rape victims often do not report this serious offence in fear of reprisals.

However it is also remarked in the statistics too that as there are up to six million undocumented immigrants living in South Africa, who are not taken into consideration in the South African crime statistics. So the figures would look differently and which the crime ratio per 100,000 inhabitants would show.For example the murder ratio would drop significantly from 37.3 to 29.8 per 100,000. Still doesn't look good, but surely you understand what I mean.