• Mangaung has the highest rate of sexual assault;
• Cape Town has the highest murder rate;
• Tshwane has the highest rate for assaults with intent to do grievous bodily harm;
• Johannesburg has the highest rate for house robberies, hijackings and vehicle theft; and
• Nelson Mandela Bay has the highest rate of non-residential robbery.

What has interested the crime reporters, however, is the fear level. Here there is a clear disconnect between reality and perception, although it has yet to be accurately measured.

Times Live continues:

The murder rates in Gauteng’s three metros – Johannesburg, Tshwane and Ekurhuleni – are below the national average of 33 per 100,000. Cape Town’s murder rate is 65 per 100,000 people.

However, if South Africa had a fear index, Johannesburg residents would rank higher than their coastal counterparts.

Joburgers are especially scared of allowing their children to play in the street, walk to school, relax in open spaces or use public transport.

Close behind Johannesburg’s fearful citizens are those of Nelson Mandela Bay and Buffalo City. . They are the most fearful of venturing into open spaces.

While also fearful of open space, Cape Town citizens are not particularly concerned about being attacked on public transport, walking to the shops or work or allowing children to walk to school or play in the street.

That last paragraph is tragically true. We are the only metro in the state which has relatively safe public transport.

[Although the thing that people seem to forget is that the high murder rate is due to poor governance in the Cape Flats, where gangsterism and drugs have pretty much destroyed the lives of those who live there.]

Here’s a rough graph of crime vs fear:

While the majority of cities in this country have a poor police detection rate, Cape Town has the country’s best. Criminologists say this is because Cape Town has effective provincial police management.

Damn straight.

[source: timeslive]