Four SA cities among 50 most violent

The Mexican Council for Public Security and Criminal Justice has identified four South African cities among the 50 most violent cities in the world.

According to the report, Cape Town is ranked as the 11th most violent city, followed by Gqeberha at 23, Durban in 35th place and Johannesburg ranking in at 48th.

The rankings are based on the number of murders per 100 000 people in the cities.

Cape Town has the highest number of murders in South Africa overall, with 2 911 murders recorded for the period, giving a murder rate of 62.22 people murdered per 100 000. The murder rate is heavily weighted towards gang-related violence.

In 2020 Gqeberha held a slightly better ranking, despite its murder rate going up – a trend which continued in 2021. It’s murder rate increased to 52.3 per 100 000 people but moved down one position on the overall rankings.

Durban, which ranked 31st last year, now ranks 35th – marking another improvement in the rankings, with its murder rate dropping to 39.98 per 100 000 people.

Joburg recorded 1 853 murders (from 2 182 murders in 2020) giving it a murder rate of 30.8 per 100 000 people.

The report lists the 50 most violent cities by the number of murders per 100,000 people, and only considers cities with populations exceeding 300 000, according to a Business Tech report.

The top 10 most violent cities are dominated by Mexican cities, from the first through to eighth position being within the region.

South Africa, Jamaica and the US are the only other main regional outliers.

Zamora in Mexico is ranked as the most violent city in the world, with over 196 murders per 100 000 people.

The US city of St Louis and Jamaica’s capital, Kingston, are the only non-Mexican cities featured in the top 10.