Lifestyle

South Africa’s most dangerous cities to live in

Staff Writer

 ·19 Nov 2018

South Africa has ranked as the fourth most dangerous country in the world, according to Numbeo’s crime index – with four local cities ranked among the 10 most dangerous.

The Numbeo Crime Index is based on survey responses, where users were asked to score the level of crime in their country and city from bad (-2) to good (+2), where 0 is average.

The survey deals with citizens’ levels of fear around violent crimes, property being stolen, hate crimes based on ethnicity or religion, and even corruption and bribery.

As a perceptions index, it does not deal with actual crime stats, but rather how safe and secure citizens feel in their cities, with the safety index asking how safe they feel walking alone during the day and at night.

Globally, South Africa ranks fourth below Venezuela, Papua New Guinea and Honduras – Latin American nations known for their high levels of crime.

South Africa is only one of three African nations ranked in the top 20 most dangerous countries, ahead of Namibia and Nigeria, and ranks ahead of war zone nations like Afghanistan and Syria.

Overall, the highest scoring crime category for South Africa was corruption and bribery – with being insulted racking up the lowest score.

Most dangerous cities

The index also covers 331 cities from around the world, with thousands of citizens being surveyed. Around 1,200 South Africans gave responses, with six cities meeting the response requirements to be included in the index as statistically relevant.

Pietermartizburg was found to be the most dangerous, with the highest crime index and lowest safety index.

Respondents highlighted violent crimes like assault and armed robbery as the worst category for the city, but the city had high levels across all specific measures, and came out at the top of the list of most dangerous across almost all categories among all South African cities.

This includes fear of being robbed, being a victim of a house breaking, having your car stolen, being attacked, insulted or being a victim of a hate crime.

Johannesburg took top dishonour for violent crimes and the overall crime levels – though Durban had the highest index rating for corruption and bribery.

While Cape Town is known, statistically, for having the highest murder rate in the country, the experience of crime says otherwise, with the city raking in the index as the safest major South African city – though it still ranks in the top 25 most dangerous cities in the world.

This is how South Africa’s major cities rank:

Read: The 10 worst crime areas in every province in South Africa