By Tamlyn Canham
Six of South Africa’s major cities feature in a top 20 list of the world’s most dangerous cities.
Five of the cities made the top twenty. Pretoria came in third, behind Papua New Guinea’s Caracas and Port Moresby in Venezuela.
Durban placed fourth, followed by Johannesburg in fifth place. Pietermaritzburg is sixth on the list, while Port Elizabeth is 17th.
The results are part of Numbeo.com’s 2021 Crime Index by City.
According to the statistics website, the survey is a perception index based on the feelings of respondents and not actual crime stats.
“It’s a snapshot of the current indices at a specific point in time,” the website states.
Numbeo uses data less than three years old to estimate the overall level of crime in each city.
Crime figures released by Statistics SA last year showed that South Africa’s murder rate increased by 1.4% in 2019/2020. More than 21,000 cases were reported during the period.
Gauteng saw a drop in serious crime during the early stages of the lockdown.
The province recorded 10% less murders between July and September. Attempted murder and robbery also dropped.
While the hard lockdown (stage 5) contributed to a drop in crimes such as murder, the Institute of Security Studies revealed that the figures increased again by the time the country eased restrictions and moved to level 3.
According to Numbeo, South Africa is the third most dangerous country in the world ahead of countries such as Afghanistan, Brazil, and Syria.
