The Crime Rate in South Africa
There are three things that South Africa is most known for: Mandela, Gold and Crime – not necessarily in that order. As for the crime, all South Africans know that the crime is bad, but not many of us know the full picture. Then again, most people aren’t supposed to know the exact figures for the crime rate in South Africa, and most just assume that ‘someone’, in some governmental department, has all the stats and is monitoring the situation with the aim of improving things – but that’s where things get interesting. Although it is often quoted that South Africa is the “X” most dangerous country in the world, it is surprising to discover that this is a bit misleading because no one really knows exactly how bad, or good(?) the situation is. The question is why? In the below post, we will review the crime statistics for South-Africa and try to answer this question.
Almost 6,000 crimes are reported to
South African police every day!
Almost 6,000 crimes are reported to South African police every day, which is astounding, especially considering that hundreds and sometimes thousands of other crimes go unreported. In September 2014, official crime stats for the period covering April 2013 to March 2014 were released (the most up to date information available here). These statistics clearly show that in many cases crime rates are on the rise.
Crime Stats for Violent Crimes: Murder and Sexual Assault
In the last year (2013-2014), 17,068 people were murdered in South Africa. That's 809 more people than the previous year, and an astonishing 47 people per day. As an indicator for just how bad that is, the global average is 7.6 murders per 100,000 people. In South Africa that average is 36.5 per 100,000 people. So not only does South Africa have a very high murder rate, but it's increasing as well, which is hardly good news.
When it comes to sexual assault, things get a little more complicated, as police estimate that only around one in nine rape crimes are actually reported. According to the statistics, 62,649 cases of rape were reported in 2013-2014. That's actually a drop of around 3% over previous years. But, with so few sexual assault cases being reported to police, it's hard to say how reliable those numbers really are which makes this statistic even more frightening.
Crime Statistics for Non-Violent Crime: Robbery and Carjacking
When it comes to ‘non-violent’ crime, the most likely crimes most South Africans will encounter are robbery or carjacking. 260,460 home burglaries were reported in 2013-2014, meaning a whopping 714 houses are robbed each day! That is a slight decrease from previous years, though only by 0.6%. Theft of motor vehicles (not car jacking) also decreased by about 2.6%, which is good news for car owners!
Though carjacking can often end in violence, technically it is included as a non-violent crime. Unlike car theft, carjackings are sky-rocketing with 11,221 carjackings reported in 2013-2014. This is a 12.3% increase from the previous year, and police blame the majority of these incidents on organised crime syndicates.
Drops in the Crime Rate in South Africa
Ok, so until now the numbers seem pretty grim right? Well, there is some encouraging news when it comes to personal and property assault crimes, with a notable drop in all areas. The number of cases of serious assault (assault with intention to cause grievous bodily harm) dropped by around 1.5%, and cases of common assault (which often include domestic violence) dropped by about 3.3%. Still, we must remember that as with rape crimes, assault cases do often go unreported.
Home and business owners will be glad to know that property assault crimes have also decreased, with a 4.2% drop in arson cases, and a 1.1% drop in cases of malicious property damage (which includes things like vandalism).
How the Crime Rate Has Changed in the Last Year
Which Areas in South Africa are Most Dangerous?
Of course, some areas of South Africa are more dangerous than others. According to the Crime Map of South African, which can be found here, the highest murder rates in the country are in Nyanga on the Western Cape. Sexual crimes are most likely around the south of Johannesburg, whilst both the northern and southern areas around the city are hotspots for assault. Unsurprisingly, domestic robbery is more common in cities, with Johannesburg, Durban and Cape Town all having high burglary rates. The same goes for motor vehicle theft and carjacking, though once again, Johannesburg is a riskier city than the others for vehicle hijacking.
The South African Crime Map
Crime Prevention: Policing in South Africa
When we think of decreasing crime rates or preventing crime we often immediately think of the police. However, in many cases in South Africa the police are not directly involved in preventing crime. In some kinds of crime, such as murder or sexual assault, police prevention is incredibly difficult, since these types of crimes often tend to occur between people who know each other. It's interesting that the types of crime that have decreased are the kinds of cases where police prevention is more possible. More police officers on the street do tend to prevent assault (which often occurs outside bars, for example) and therefore a more visible police presence is likely to deter burglary and property assault.
This means that the above mentioned decrease in some types of crimes could possibly be down to police prevention – South Africa's police department has put on average of about 10,000 new officers on the street each year since 2002. A fact that supports this claim, is that during 2010/11 when South Africa held the FIFA World Cup and during 2009/10 when the Confederation Cup was held in South Africa, personal and property crime rates dropped significantly. During both these events South Africa increased police presence. Nevertheless, there might also be numerous other factors like emotional unity among locals and more crimes aimed at tourists who didn’t file complaints.
Are These Crime Statistics Reliable?
Whilst the crime rate in South Africa is worrying enough, what is even more worrying is the thought that many of the reported statistics may not actually be reliable. We've already discussed the issue of rape not being reported, but whilst the South African police estimate only one in nine rapes are reported, other sources indicate that that level could be as high as only one in thirteen (for sexual assault by a stranger), or one in twenty five (for domestic sexual assault). (Source)
Furthermore, an independent report issued by United Christian Action found that 60-70% of serious crime in all areas goes unreported. Just as an example, whilst the official police statistics for the year 2000 reported 21,683 murders, the Medical Research Council reported 32,482 murders for the same year which is a 68% difference! (Source)
This is important, since it means that there is a possibility that South Africa's official crime statistics are misleading, and that the situation is much worse (68% worse maybe) than reported.
How Do the South Africa Crime Stats Measure Up Compared to other Countries?
Statistically, countries are rated with a crime index. This is a number that gives you the statistical chance of a crime happening to you in any given country. In general, a crime index of less than 50 is considered reasonable. Based on this method, South Africa is the fourth most dangerous country in the world. We’ve added a few countries to help you get a comparative view:
So, South Africa is the 4th Most Dangerous Country in the World, Right?
From the information above you would be right in thinking that South Africa is the fourth most dangerous country in the world, but it's important to understand something before going and ‘boasting’ about this to your friend. Comparing crime statistics amongst countries is very difficult, in fact any official document about comparative crime statistics will warn you of this.
Why is this? There are a number of factors at play. Firstly, different crimes fall into different categories in different countries. So, for example, in one country carjacking might be seen as a violent crime (since it often leads to injury and usually a weapon is used), whilst in another it is non violent (since property is stolen). This makes it obviously difficult to compare numbers.
Maybe a more important factor, however, is that in many cases crime numbers are more of an indication of the willingness to report crime rather than the incidence of crime. We've already spoken about how many cases of rape go unreported, and this is true of other crimes too, depending on country. In basic terms, countries where the police have a good reputation might report higher numbers of crimes simply because people are more willing to go to the police for help.
Another factor is that some countries don’t properly record the crime statistics. Whilst doing the research, we found that there isn't one central source of reliable and updated information that can give an accurate picture. Unfortunately, this isn't unique to crime statistics and occurs in other fields of life as well. Thus for example, with road accidents – even the deadily ones. According to this source, 20 years of national road accident data stored with the Road Traffic Management Corporation (RTMC) was rendered "unusable" due to a "computer error".
All of this means that whilst the above numbers indicate that South Africa is the fourth most dangerous country in the world, we actually can't be sure. In fact, there are many other sources, based on the same crime statistics, that place South Africa at number one, or even number eight. Comparing crime between countries is tough. The one sure conclusion we can draw is that South Africa is a relatively dangerous country, with a high incidence of crime, no matter how it might rank against other countries – which brings us to our closing paragraph.
How Can You Protect Yourself?
Whatever the numbers may say, what the crime rate in South Africa comes down to is your personal safety. So just how can you protect yourself? The simple answer to that is to be sensible. Stay away from areas you know to be dangerous, make sure that your home is adequately protected with an alarm system, and steer clear of aggravating factors such as alcohol or drugs. When it comes to carjacking, ensure that your doors are locked at all times, and be prepared to drive away quickly from stoplights. Try stay in groups, don’t flash your stash, stay away from dodgy areas and be alert (feel free to share more ideas in the comments section of this post).
Either way, crime unfortunately does ‘visit’ many of us (though hopefully it doesn’t occur to whoever’s reading this), and it happens a lot more in South Africa than it does in most other countries, so avoiding crime entirely is more a matter of luck than anything else. That said, taking care of what happens after the crime occurs is up to you. So, having the appropriate insurance policies (life, car and home) will at least mean that should something occur you are financially compensated. And a life insurance policy is a must if you have a family to support.
South Africa is a beautiful country, but one that is known for also being a dangerous one. Crime in South Africa is rampant, and whilst policing does seem to be improving, only you can make the decisions that will keep you safe.
Stay Safe!
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Main Subject: Crime Rate in South Africa