{"id":882541,"date":"2026-11-04T11:00:00","date_gmt":"2026-11-04T09:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/?p=882541"},"modified":"2026-11-04T06:50:12","modified_gmt":"2026-11-04T04:50:12","slug":"united-states-uk-australia-and-canada-warning-their-citizens-about-coming-to-south-africa","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/business-opinion\/882541\/united-states-uk-australia-and-canada-warning-their-citizens-about-coming-to-south-africa\/","title":{"rendered":"United States, UK, Australia and Canada warning their citizens about coming to South Africa"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Several prominent countries, including the United States, the United Kingdom, Australia, and Canada, have issued active travel warnings for South Africa, advising travellers to exercise high caution when visiting the country. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

These warnings are due to high rates of violent crime, kidnappings, and unpredictable civil unrest. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Although tourism in the country continues to grow significantly, these advisories specifically highlight serious local security threats and provide stringent guidance for foreign nationals.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Last month, the United States issued a security alert regarding reports of looting and violence targeting foreign nationals in the central business district (CBD) of Durban. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

This social unrest escalated following South Africa’s decision to reopen its asylum system to new applicants. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cUS government personnel have been instructed to exercise extreme caution in this area and divert travel as needed until further notice,\u201d the US Embassy and Consulates in South Africa said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

This comes after a previous level two warning was issued by the United States in May of last year, which advised tourists to remain cautious when visiting South Africa due to crime, terrorism, unrest, and kidnapping.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

US government employees were instructed to obtain special approval and use fully armoured vehicles during restricted daytime hours, such as from 10:00 AM to 3:00 PM or from 7:00 AM to 3:00 PM on weekdays, when visiting informal settlements and townships in and around Cape Town.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

At the time, US personnel in South Africa were told that they were strictly prohibited from using minibus taxis, hailing street cabs, using taxi stands, or taking Metrorail commuter trains, and were warned about high traffic fatality rates and reckless driving.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Over the last few months, other countries such as Canada, Australia and the United Kingdom have also issued warnings for tourists travelling to South Africa.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

South Africa flagged as a dangerous country<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
\"\"<\/a><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Canada recently issued a warning, advising Canadians visiting South Africa to exercise extreme caution due to high levels of serious crime.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

With municipal elections taking place on Wednesday, 4 November, Canadian tourists in South Africa were warned that political rallies and demonstrations could occur during and after the elections.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

“Even peaceful demonstrations can turn violent at any time. They can also lead to disruptions to traffic and public transportation,” said the Canadian government.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Canadian government also warned tourists in South Africa to be vigilant of xenophobic attacks, which it warned may be accompanied by demonstrations, looting and outbreaks of violence.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

“Be extremely cautious in city centres and avoid them after dark, avoid townships and isolated areas, stay in accommodations with adequate security measures, keep doors and windows locked at all times, and keep valuables out of sight and reach,” the Canadian government said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Canadian visitors were also warned about kidnapping, poor road conditions in remote areas, power outages, attacks on hikers, terrorism, spiked food and drink, credit card fraud, hotel theft, carjacking, and police officer impersonation.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In September, Australia also issued a warning for its citizens travelling to South Africa, urging tourists to “exercise a high degree of caution,” due to the threat of violent crime.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Australian government warned tourists about the risk of widespread violent crime, including murder, rape, carjackings, armed robbery, and “smash-and-grab” thefts from vehicles. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

It urged travellers to be aware of road spiking, where criminals place tyre spikes on highways to disable vehicles and force drivers to stop. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Visitors were urged to avoid central business districts, isolated beaches, and townships unless they are part of an organised tour with a reputable operator.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Earlier this year, the United Kingdom also issued a warning to its citizens visiting South Africa, urging them to be aware of potential terrorist attacks that could be carried out in the country, along with other crime.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The UK government warned British travellers about the high crime rates in South Africa, including armed attacks, vehicle hijackings, mugging, and theft that target tourists.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

British travellers were also warned to be vigilant around ATMs and were advised to keep valuables out of plain sight.<\/p>\n\n\n\n


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Several prominent countries have issued active travel warnings for South Africa, advising travellers to exercise high caution when visiting the country.\u00a0<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":127,"featured_media":848808,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":true,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_sma_x_autopost_status":"posted","_sma_x_autopost_error":"","_sma_x_post_id":"2117905955207684486","_sma_facebook_post_id":"191437357620492_2260405994779799","_sma_instagram_post_id":"18102747170560858","_sma_x_attempts":1,"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[2097,6697,853,20754,10022],"class_list":["post-882541","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-business-opinion","tag-australia","tag-canada","tag-south-africa","tag-united-kingdom","tag-united-states"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/882541","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/127"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=882541"}],"version-history":[{"count":6,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/882541\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":882651,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/882541\/revisions\/882651"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/848808"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=882541"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=882541"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=882541"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}