Durban - Three in four people living in some of South Africa’s most violent cities like Soweto, Khayelitsha and uMlazi, do not feel safe.
This is according to the latest Whitaker Peace & Development Initiative (WPDI) Violence Survey commissioned by financial houses, RCS and its parent company BNP Paribas, News 24 reports.
According to the report, the incidence of kidnappings in the country are affecting international investor confidence with global firms looking elsewhere for services like call centres.
Police Minister Bheki Cele said in his crime stats report recently that between July and September almost 4000 cases of kidnappings were reported nationally. Cele said the number had doubled from the previous crime stats period.
The crime stats showed that Gauteng had a great majority in the Top 20 kidnapping hotspots with places like Vosloorus, Joburg Central, Tembisa, Midrand, Mondeor, Westonaria, Mabopane, Boksburg, Heidelberg and Lenasia having between 37 to 57 reported kidnappings each, in the three months between July and September.
The survey, according to News24, targeted communities and businesses operating in crime hotspots including uMlazi and KwaMashu in Durban, Alexandra and Soweto in Gauteng, and Khayelitsha and Mitchells Plain in the Western Cape.
According to the report more people are taking up arms to protect themselves against the rising levels of crimes.
Cele said 7 004 people were killed in South Africa during the July-September 2022 period, adding that Inanda and Umlazi police stations in KwaZulu-Natal, and Nyanga SAPS in the Western Cape had registered the highest number of murders during this period.
According to New24, businesses are having to choose between closing early at a loss or letting their staff go home earlier due to crime, the report said.
With regard to the issue of kidnappings, the report noted that South Africa was now being compared with the likes of Colombia.
"Prior to the spike in kidnappings, we were experiencing a healthy growth trajectory in terms of winning international business," said Clayton Williams, CEO of CapeBPO.
"But definitely [now] we've seen an impact and having to answer to a lot of the investors around those market perceptions about South Africa being referenced to the likes of Colombia, in the past a kidnapping capital of the world."
IOL