Most of my friends who have been to south africa has had bad experiences of robbery even in the hotels.?

Question

how safe is south africa ?

Answer 1

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Well, judging from your friend's experiences. Not safe enough.

SA has a high crime rate - no doubt about that. Though many locals will be perfectly fine in most places while tourists are the better targets. Same tactic works everywhere.

Also tourists are not clued up on where not to go etc. Many reasons why your friends may have had negative encounters, while there are many reasons why you would be perfectly safe as well.

Source(s):

Visited SA in August (Johannesburg), where the crime rate is the highest. I am still in one piece :-)

Answer 2

i advice you to go ti north africa (tunisia) i guaranty it's safe

Answer 3

What do i remember about South Africa? well...there were definitely some streets in my town where i would not dare to walk. My one friend was mugged in daylight when walking to a friend's house and i foresaw that these lonely little streets are trouble. Walking alone next to the river by my house gave me the creeps. I remember a drunk homeless man who would harrass me for fun when he was not washing cars. I remember some people in town were attacked quite badly. I was mugged at night twice although i admit i was walking alone. Being
robbed with knife is something that happened quite often in my town in the more desolate little spots of town or the bushes especially.

If you can drive around everywhere in a car you are quite safe in the towns. Yes, I walked around alone a lot in my beautiful well-known town and i was reasonably safe but I knew that the difference between one street and the next could be a severe attack or robbery.

A problem in the country used to be people who leave their doors open when they are busy in the house...a lot of robberies/attacks occured because people forgot to lock their doors...should everyone have the right to leave their doors open at daytime?? you can debate that.

What i will tell you my friend...is that every country has its problems. Some people are miserable and horrible wherever they go. South Africa has some great people, great food. Many of the poor people were very nice helpful people, some were nicer to me than my own family ever were.

Source(s):

grew up in South Africa.

Answer 4

As with all countries, SA has safe places and not so safe places.
Unfortunately being a tourist in SA does make you a bit of a target.

One of the reasons that tourists are targeted is that they do not have enough information about the country or town that they are in. (I've seen tourists walking at night with backpacks down streets that even most of the locals avoid during the day!) I don't mean to offend any foreign visitor, however a lot of (NOT ALL) visitors are very naive when they visit a new country. (That includes SA to other countries)

Not having the correct information or taking for granted that you can walk where a local walks is a bit of a risk. As said before, foreign visitors to SA are a target. It's sad, but very true. As I'm sure a naive SA visitor to a foreign country could also get into trouble.

Source(s):

Live in SA and have been in the hospitality industry for over 10years.

Answer 5

Pixel is correct! There are safe places and not so safe places.
Tourists often come to SA not knowing what to expect or knowing the right places to go. It’s always worth doing a bit of research on a country before you visit it so you can be a bit streetwise and understand how fragile it is.

From my experiences in the cities there is always a lot more crime than in the suburbs.

Answer 6

And when I went to America, my cellphone got stolen, in the hotel. So we're even.

Anyway, a lot of people like to exaggerate about the crime. It is quite bad and does happen, but some people (like that guy who got asylum in Canada) just go overboard.

If you don't go looking for trouble, you should be fine. Also, there are areas where crime is worse than elsewhere, just like in other countries. Just stay away from those areas.

Answer 7

In south africa a girl has more chance of getting raped, then learning out to read.

Source(s):

its a real fact just cant remember where i read it =S

Answer 8

Well in 42 years in SA i have never been robbed, murdered defrauded assaulted raped. so I think it is pretty safe and I travel all over the country

Answer 9

Its a total shithole and completely unsafe unless you are a South Africa denialist. Then you answer "crime is everywhere." but what they refuse to accept is that South Africa has the highest violent crime rate in the World. 90 people die a violent death every day in South Africa. a woman is raped every 8 seconds,they have the highest violent assault rates in the World, car jacking is so common they dont even report on it in the Media. The denialists believe its like this everywhere and the World Cup is going to be an absolute nightmare. How FIFA can award the most dangerous Country in the world this tournament compares only to the Olympics being awarded to Hitler's Nazi Germany.

Answer 10

South Africa is a beautiful country with a lot to offer, but yes it has it's safety issues.
Firstly, you don't wanna take good jewellery or any other unnecessary valuables there... at all... end of story.
There is a lot of corruption and thievery, but you just need to know how to handle it. Lock stuff up, don't wear good jewlery, when driving around, keep doors locked and windows up (except if on a freeway or something the you can wind your windows down i guess). Dont leave anything lying around ever cause it WILL get stolen. Don't go walking by yourself, don't go walking in places that aren't specifically designed for it (like shopping malls, the beach front, etc.). Don't leave valuables in a car, it will get broken into. Don't use a hand bag that doesn't zip shut, don't use a back pack, and don't fling your hand bag around your back - stuff will get pinched out of it.
You just need to know how to conduct yourself and you'll be fine. I'll say it again - it's a gorgeous place with much to offer if you are safe and responsible when going there.

Source(s):

I'm from SA, lived there the first 22 years of my life...

Answer 11

No surprise - go and have a holiday in a nice, safe country like Turkey. SA is crime ridden and S.Africans usually respond by saying, "but there is crime all over the world!"
There is crime all over the world, but just not as much or as violent as in SA.
if you do research and travel in groups all should be well - just don't expect it to be as nice or as safe as other places.

Answer 12

Well I lived in South Africa for 13 years of my life and never had a problem, i still have most my family in South Africa which have never had much problems. Yes there can be areas which are not safe, like anywhere, but in many places it is totally fine. Yes you might need to keep your eye open more then usual but I never had a problem, and Im also going back for a year next year. It is a beautiful country and a lot of tourists will be fine if they go....