Africa Is a Country

Cape Town is ‘the most dangerous’ city in Africa

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Cape Town is ‘the most dangerous’ city in Africa

By
Sean Jacobs

A Mexican research group has listed the world's most dangerous cities based on homicide rates. South Africa's cities finish tops.

Railway through Cape Flats from N2. Image credit Angus Willson via Flickr CC.

In the latest of those ubiquitous “top 10” lists or rankings floating around the internet, a Mexican research group has listed the world’s most dangerous cities based on homicide rates. Most of them are from Central and South America: 5 of the 10 most dangerous cities are in Mexico and 40 out of the top 50 are in Latin America. There’s also this small item which drew my attention: the most dangerous city outside of South and North America and the Caribbean, is Cape Town at number 34. Two cities in the United States, New Orleans (at no.21) and Detroit (no.30), finish ahead of Cape Town. But that’s cold comfort.

And here’s more: The other cities from outside the Americas on the list also come from South Africa: Nelson Mandela Bay is at no.41, Durban no.49 and Johannesburg no.50. No other African cities made the list.

Here is a link to the original list, which comes complete with statistics. Whatever the sensationalism that goes along with the list or the basis for the comparison, you don’t have to be a rocket scientist to know where those murders are taking place in Cape Town at least: on what is known as the Cape Flats, the black (and coloured) expanse of working class townships that doesn’t make it into DASO commercials or are included in the hashtags celebrating “good governance” in the city.

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