This ranking is sort of a climb-down for South Africa, which had the highest murder rate in the world at 59/10000 in 1998, one of the last years that the Interpol made public its crime statistics.
Though the government claims that murder rates are on the decline, experts are not swayed. One study asked of South Africa, dubbed the murder capital of the world: ‘Incidents of rape have increased, car jacking is at an unprecedented high. Attempted murder rates are on the rise. And the government wants the world to believe that the murder rates are going down?’
Recently the government has had a widely-publicised gun amnesty programme to reduce the number of weapons in circulation. In addition, it adopted the National Crime Prevention Strategy in 1996, which aimed to prevent crime through reinforcing community structures and helping individuals back into work.
But the people of South Africa are not ready to buy the government claim. Many high and middle income families hire armed private security guards to do the basic job expected of any government: protect them.
Another most visible sign that the people are really worried is the increasing number of gated communities.
These usually comprise a group of suburban street blocks whose road exits have been fenced off with the exception of one or more entrances that are monitored by guards. Of course employed by private security companies.
Image: Academics and students from the University of the Witwatersrand (Wits), protest outside Witts University in Johannesburg against attacks on foreigners
Photograph: Rodger Bosch/AFP/Getty Images
Also see: Tibet Revolts
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