Is South Africa a Dangerous Country?
South Africa has topped the crime statistics for years. But what’s it really like on the ground?
I’ve lived here for 11 years now. That’s not a very long time, but long enough to get a real sense of what it’s actually like.
Four months and ten days after we moved into a house in our new home, we were robbed. During the break-in it quickly became clear that the two intruders didn’t actually want to hurt us — they were just after things they could easily resell. Still… not a very pleasant experience.
A friend was mugged in broad daylight on Loop Street (central Cape Town) and robbed of his yoga mat, wallet, and phone.
My children witnessed pickpockets in the city more than once, at night, coming out of clubs.
A friend of my daughter’s was raped and murdered while out on a walk with her family.
In short: yes, there is crime at every level here — just as there is in the rest of the world.
How can you protect yourself from this?
In the case of our own break-in, it’s simple: do your research first, then rent the house. Our landlady hadn’t told us the house we were renting from her had already been broken into seven (!) times before. We’d moved to Cape Town in peak season, when everything is booked out and anyone with even a spare room jumps on the Airbnb bandwagon. I simply hadn’t been able to find another house that worked for us…
The house was in an area next to a large township — the term used for Black South Africans’ formal or informal settlements. Because of the tensions and poverty in townships, break-ins happen more often in neighbourhoods near a township than in suburbs without one.
Crime in the city centre is easy to avoid — you simply don’t go :D. Or you follow the universal rule: don’t flash wealth around, and stay alert. Develop a sixth sense and trust your gut: if an area looks dodgy, it probably is!
Going out at night in Cape Town is a bit of a thing. Again, it really depends on which area you’re in. In the city centre, you call an Uber and only leave the club or restaurant once the driver is right outside. Then you step out, and the doormen keep an eye on you until you’re in the car.
That would be my advice to tourists.
These days I have absolutely no problem going to the Labia cinema alone in the evening and parking on a side street. The ‘park guards’ are usually nice guys — they don’t necessarily watch your car, but they’re there.
And of course, nowhere in the world are you immune to being in the wrong place at the wrong time — you can file that under fate, and as traumatic as such experiences can be, they’re simply beyond our control.
Like the ranger at Mount St. Helens who happened to have the day off when the volcano erupted, only to die in a volcanic eruption in Japan eleven years later (Bill Bryson, ‘A Short History of Nearly Everything’).
South Africa is a fantastic country, and if you act sensibly, it’s no more dangerous than plenty of other countries. You’ll find more answers in the FAQ section here.
In short:
- Check out the area before renting or buying a house or flat
- Never play the hero — hand over your phone or money right away
- Always stay aware of your surroundings
- Don’t show off any ‘valuables’ (camera, jewellery…)