Revealed: Cities With Highest Murder Rates in South Africa

A new report released Thursday reveals the most violent cities in South Africa.

The SA Cities Network report lists Cape Town as the city with the highest murder rate in the country, basing their statistics on murders per 100,000 people. In 2017/18 reporting period, 2,500 people were murdered in Cape Town, translating to 69 murders per 100,000 people.

This is an incredible increase of 70% since the 2009/10 period.

Gang violence is stated to be the leading force in these figures.

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Siphelele Ngobese, SA Cities Network researcher for inclusion and wellbeing, said.

“Cape Town performs well compared to the other cities in terms of poverty, income inequality and youth unemployment, but has the highest rates of murder, robbery and property-related crimes.

“They are also the least satisfied with law enforcement after Buffalo City. The 2017 report suggested that what might be driving the crime in Cape Town is the disproportionate access to alcohol, drugs and firearms, which is more than double that of other cities.

“The intention to divide this indicator into its three separate components (drug-related crime, driving under the influence of alcohol or drugs, and illegal possession of firearms and ammunition) will hopefully provide a better understanding of the likely primary catalysts for the high levels of insecurity and violent crime in this city.”

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Following Cape Town are Nelson Mandela Bay and Durban, with Buffalo City, Msundizi (Pietermaritzburg) and Manguang not far behind.

All these six cities have a murder rate of 36 per 100,000 people and above, higher than the national average.

All Gauteng metros meanwhile have murder rates below the national average. Ekurhuleni leads in the province (32 per 100,000), followed by Johannesburg (31 per 100,000) and Tshwane (17 per 100,000).

For 13 years now, murder rate in Gauteng has remained below the national average. In Johannesburg however, the murder rate in 2017/18 saw a 5% increase from the previous year.

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