By Correspondent
Harare has ben ranked number 9 in terms of crime and safety on the African continent by ranking body Numbeo.
Leading the list as the most dangerous city on the continent is South Africa’s Pietermaritzburg.
So serious is crime in South Africa such that the country occupies the top six positions in terms of crime.
In 2012 OpenTravel.com listed Cape Town among the 5 most dangerous cities in the world.
In South Africa much of the blame for crime is put on foreigners resulting in increased xenophobia.
However, this is misleading, as South Africa’s long history of the problem has been linked to apartheid, and clearly predates the arrival of particularly African immigrants, who mostly came to the country only after 1994.
The data below is provided courtesy of Numbeo site.
The perception of foreigners dominating organised crime in South Africa is most evident in the recurring incidents of xenophobia.
Xenophobic attacks are often framed as social rage against crime committed by foreigners, rather than a symptom of the country’s endemic socio-economic problems such as unemployment, corruption, poverty and skyrocketing retail prices.
Meanwhile Harare has been steadily experiencing increasing number of serious crimes such as armed robberies.
Last year a Safeguard vehicle was attacked by armed robbers who made off with US$4 million being carried from an Ecobank branch in Bulawayo.
It was only the latest in a growing list of such serious cases occurring in the country.
