New global poll finds South Africans feel among least safe

Bartender Gugu Xakaza, 32, was mugged by two men while walking home from the grocery store one day.

She said that was the last time she risked walking anywhere alone.

“I’d never walk around these streets, firstly you know because South Africa’s crime status is very high, and also it’s not just safe for a woman to be walking alone at night, because obviously we might be taken advantage of…. so rather be safe than sorry,” she said.

She is not alone.

Karabo Faith, 23, said she no longer walks anywhere by herself.

“I almost, almost got mugged at night… we were walking, going home," she said. "So, this other guy was like, ‘Hey, give us your phone.’ Then luckily these police officers came through, so they never took our phones. But we were scared.”

The latest Gallup poll on global safety asked people in 140 countries how safe they felt walking alone. Some 70% of South Africans responded that they did not feel safe, ranking in the bottom three countries, which also included Ecuador and Liberia.

Gallup is a global analytics and advisory firm.

Gallup’s Julie Ray said sub-Saharan Africa has had low rankings in the annual poll for years. And feelings of safety have declined more here than in any other region.

“The region has ranked amongst the least safe in terms of people’s perceptions for almost two decades,” Ray said.

By contrast, citizens in Kuwait, Singapore and Norway said they felt the safest, with between only 8% and 1% feeling unsafe.

Women in South Africa typically feel less safe than men, Ray said. Confidence in police in sub-Saharan Africa is also lower than average, she said.

Asked for comment on the report, Athlenda Mathe, spokesperson for the South African Police Services, said they were working on heightening police visibility.

“We are making inroads in clamping down on all forms of criminality and the main goal is to ensure that we make South Africa a much better and safer place to live in, so that people can walk freely,” Mathe said.

South Africa has notoriously high crime rates.

According to the latest police statistics, between April and June alone more than 6,000 murders and 9,000 rapes were recorded, for rates of 10 per 100,000 population and 15 per 100,000, respectively.

Cover photo: FILE - Police patrol an area in Soweto, South Africa, July 12, 2022, following a deadly shooting. A new Gallup poll shows citizens of South Africa do not feel safe.