Crime in Johannesburg, South Africa

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?

call police station of Tsakane and tell them u criminal of Johannesburg

I guess most of the participants in the crime stats survey on this website are all the white South Africans. Well I just took part in the survey and my response will be totally different from your experiences as I had never experienced rape, violent crime, being mugged, house broken into, car jacked, murder, etc either with my immediate or distant family or friends in the past 20 years. I have had two German white exchange students staying over with us for over a year and nothing happened to them too in the same score period. By the way I stay right next to Alexandra Township.

So I do not buy the notion of SA being one of the most dangerous places to stay in or even visit and the rubbish that Most black South Africans love violence. These stupid stats are all relative and never reflect the true picture of the country. I bet you not all 80% of the black South African population participated in these surveys. I've been to the Brazilian favelas in Rio and Sao Palo and mingling with the locals was one of the best experiences I had and not even a single incident I experienced. But I bet you, you we all misled to believe these favelas are A TO NO GO ZONES. So stop exaggerating every incident and blowing the stats out of proportion just because you experienced it. Not all South African experienced the unfortunate incident that you did and believe that it only happens in SA only. For your information it happens everywhere in the world.

Have you asked yourself if other countries in the world capture and record every single incident reported to their police stations like we do in South Africa. My answer is no, in my last ten years I travelled and spent some time to over 40 African countries and the small incident that take place in their communities are hardly even reported to the police stations, because either the police station is far or the community members deem the incident insignificant to report or its either handled in the local tribal tribunals. So to all the bloody racist white South African, catch a wake up. You stay by far in a more nicer and tolerant, natural disaster free and politically stable country than anywhere else in the world. The guns loving USA you aspire to become or live in has more people dying from guns than our South African murders.

"#Hollier Galt on Aug 09, 2018 :
With reference to comment from Jack Mar 6, 2018 - I worked in tourism and still tell visitors to be careful but they think South African's are exaggerating so often end up having problems."

Uh, that's because you do exaggerate Hollier.

Problems? Pickpocketing and scams don't count. Tourists are regularly murdered in numerous other countries. That's 'problems'.

Serious crime has increased so much lately in Johannesburg. I can't even cycle anymore. If you can immigrate, do so.
If you want to visit, do not come to South Africa, it's a cruel and dark place to be, with no rules and no consequences. A cell phone is worth more than a life. People get killed brutally just for the fun of it.

I'm an American and I also live in Fourways and do not let those who say this area is safe fool you or compare it to other cities..it is different here. If you pay any attention to what is going on you'll be well aware this area has an obscene amount of smash in grabs, robberies, high jackings, and rape. I've lived here a year and in that span of time I've seen a car-jacking unfold in front of me, a man was shot outside my estate coming home from an atm. A colleague of mine was also high-jacked near my estate in Fourways after she ran over a paper bag intended to blow her tire, women being raped as they run, new crime hot-spot signs going up, and cyclists being shot and robbed. If you turn a blind eye, areas of Joburg can feel deceptively safe, but that's when you are most at risk is when you think "hey this place is not that bad.." And what's worst, if you do find yourself in trouble the chances of people helping you, especially the police, are slim to none.

With reference to comment from Jack Mar 6, 2018 - I worked in tourism and still tell visitors to be careful but they think South African's are exaggerating so often end up having problems.

Anybody who tells you that crime is not that serious in Jo'burg or any part of SA is lying, you will probably find these promoters of 'safety' work in tourism or have investments in guest houses and hotels, car rental companies. Do not believe their horse shit!

Crime in Johannesburg is shocking. Cannot go to malls, walk in the streets, go near a park without someone always watching to take advantage of a situation. Really horrible place to live.