Crime in Johannesburg, South Africa

65/100 of the world's most violent cities are in the Middle East and sub-Saharan Africa. Normally it's 75/100 but due to the war in Ukraine this has decreased somewhat.

Laughably, Mogadishu, Kandahar, Bangui, Goma, Port-au-Prince and Baghdad had higher homicide rates (on top of political violence) than San Pedro Sula, San Salvador and Tijuana in their so-called 'murder capital' years experts have confirmed. You won't see this kind of thing in the media. Saying Africa and the ME are more violent than LatAm is boring because everybody already knows it, so instead of using sound sources like Crisis24 or the US DoS they conveniently employ these go-to cranks from Mexico and Brazil who want their cities and countries to top the lists by making carefully managed rankings to make them look so. It's a myth the latter cities stated above ever had the world's highest homicide rates. The damage has, unfortunately, been done.

I'm forgetting this is about Johannesburg and wanted to offer some commentary on African cities but @Anonymous on Jan 21, 2023....you're correct about South Africa but you forgot the Eastern Cape which has also suffered a spike in violence and murder. Port Elizabeth is the murder capital of the country I believe. Durban may have surpassed Cape Town as well. I'll email the guy who provided the information, he's normally very solid and I thought that's what he said in a phone call.

Africa has the highest criminal violence rate in the world but that's mainly across it's middle where it's most prevalent.

"The Middle East and Africa share the ignominious distinction of being the world's most violent regions, with the ME shading violence risk not falling under traditional crime and Africa leading criminal homicide. The magnitude of the problem is staggering and persistent. Of the top 100 most violent cities in the world, 70 are in sub-Saharan Africa and MENA."

Regarding Jo'burg (and KZN), it's the worst it's been for many years.

What creates crime is obscene levels of ineqauality and white people thinking they are better than everyone. I hope black people drive them into the sea

South Africa has not become a better place to live since the take over of the ANC.
After the leadership of Mr Nelson Mandela and Mr Thabo Mbeki, we have seen more corruption and crime than ever.
Many had no other option but to leave the beloved country.
Black leaders seem to forget very quickly all the promises made to improve the life of their own brothers and sisters.
A minority of the population are the ones who pay tax and have to carry the rest who are mainly uneducated and live undeer deplorable conditions.
Bring more and more Africans to the cities in order to get more votes.
The ANC has shown incompetence to say the least.
There is no present and there is no future for all South Africans- regretably.
Crime is the no. 1 topic of concern by many . No job creation either. The whole public service has collapsed.
Health and Social Welfare need urgent attention but, will they get it? For you to find out.
While "aparheid" was condemned - well, it is what many people want round the planet.
Segregation is another story and NOT to be tolerated in any way.
In the meantime, we feel very sorry for those who have to live in fear behind burglar bars, cameras, and high walls which are not a real impediment to professional criminals that roam free. Sad scenario

@Anonymous on May 14, 2021

@potevan1 almost certainly doesn't live in Columbia. This from my own and a friends' interactions with him and his strange, defensive responses to basic 'describe where you live' Q's and the like after we became suspicious about his post history on Disqus as well as Twitter. Hoax account all over. Simply ask him to properly describe where he lives lol

Still can't believe the lengths South Africans go to to try and make their country sound scary.

I remember a Saffie called @potevan1 on Twitter who claimed he lived in Colombia when he clearly didn't.

compared Philippines to South Africa, crime is basically the same but I can tell you the chances of being a victim are still slim

Unless you have some extremely good reason for visit Johannesburg (family is the only reason I can think of), don't bother.

Nothing to see and exceedingly dangerous.
Seriously what's the point?

Dose the authorities know about these crimes. What are they doing about it. Was the crime rate the same before 1994 or far far lower.

Akram, Islamabad is the safest part of Pakistan. I'm also guessing you're excluding Rawalpindi, right? They're essentially the same city. Rawalpindi is a whole lot worse than the Islamabad portion.

He's forgotten Tijuana. Otherwise not bad. Johannesburg (or any South African city) is nowhere near top 10. They're that high because South Africans fantasise about standing out for bad stuff (you're reading this correctly non-South Africans) and actively and aggressively exaggerate. To be frank, Brazilian cities are way too high on this otherwise superb site as well.

The only cities that 'might' make a true global top 10 are the top 3 Fenn's got there IMO. I don't believe any of the others are close to that.

@Mjava good points, apart from the USA comparison.

A special kind of nutjobbery is at play when people resort to using caps to try and impress you with how much crime and corruption (they think) they have. This is weird, very creepy stuff.

People are fooled by this index repeatedly all over the web on what is otherwise a great website.

Don't be fooled, crime is a HUGE problem in Joburg and SA as a whole. yes we had a bad past, but the future seems to be looking far worst as our political leaders spend most of their time trying to worm their way out of corrupt activities by having HEARINGS instead of rotting in jail. The worst part is the justice system that's so weak, criminals that commit murder are released after a few years, same applies to rapist and corrupt officials- its like the Govt. has designed a system that will help them when they eventually get caught doing wrong. Prisoners are allowed to vote, so the Govt. needs to be very "kind" to them to get that vote. Soon the prisoners vote may swing the vote to the party that takes care of them the best- How toxic is this? Our beloved country is unfortunately rotting away as some leaders proudly want to steal from you with your eyes wide open. What happened to democratic change that we all were looking forward to when Mandela was released? Why is it so difficult to rule with pride and ethical principles? Why cant we equip our youth with first class education so that they could lead us to success?