Safety and Security

The following blog post was written on the morning of the 5th of August on the way to Cape Town!

South Africa has alarmingly high crime statistics. People here seem to be afraid almost all the time. In the evenings busy city centers turn into ghost towns as people head for the safety of their homes, not to return until daylight.

While staying in the Rosebank area of Joburg we were escorted across the street (it is an overpass because they are building the subway underneath) by security guards who tried to make us promise to call them when we were walking back. Although this seemed unnecessary when walking across the street, the hotel was the victim of an armed robbery right before we arrived and people are robbed frequently in the area.

In Lesotho there were armed guards, carrying menacing looking shotguns over their shoulders that walked around the perimeter. We were very safe within the borders of the Trading Post, but the guards made me believe that we had something to fear if the fences didn’t exist. This was difficult to believe, since we knew so many of the neighborhood youth…but then you heard the staggering rape statistics and were happy they were there.

When people heard that we were driving across the country they were surprised, issuing countless of warnings to be careful not to leave anything on the seat and to always have our doors locked when driving. The car-jacking rates are also very high.

Homes in South Africa are usually surrounded by huge fences, gates, barbed wire, and security systems. In some cases the home cannot be seen from the road, only the wall surrounding the home. Some people believe that insurance companies are in cahoots with security companies (insurance companies requiring the extra security methods in order to qualify for homeowners insurance). However, the extra walls, fences, gates, and more give people a sense that there is something “out there” that we don’t want “in here.” The crazy thing is that I have gotten used to seen the highly secured areas and hardly notice any longer.

It is hard because I would say that in some cases people seem overly paranoid and must be so exhausting to be afraid all of the time. However, the statistics seem to support their concern in some ways. For example, while visiting Jeppe Girls School in Joburg the teacher asked the class that Jason and I visited (for metrics, which is their senior class) for the students who have been the victim of crime to raise their hand-more than have of the class did, indicating robbery, home invasion, car-jacking, or worse.

I probably I have not probably been as concerned as I should be, sometimes walking with a small group back from dinner while in Joburg or heading out via cab for drinks with a group. However, there is definitely a large amount of independence that a woman gives up while traveling here. It would be out of the question for my to walk anywhere totally alone here and I miss that