Crime and Safety in
Johannesburg and Gauteng

Johannesburg CBD Monitoring
Johannesburg is, today, better than its reputation. Some travel guides and press publications still state stubbornly that Johannesburg is too dangerous and should not be visited at all. But over the last years a lot has been successfully done to make the town safer. In the Central Business District more than 200 surveillance cameras were installed. All streets are being monitored around the clock by an army of operators. The cameras can pick up the perpetrators and follow them around street blocks. If something happens, security officers and police men are on the spot within minutes. The Automatic Teller Machines (ATM) are also constantly being surveilled. The number of robberies and thefts has considerably decreased since the implementation.

Car Hijacking
Car hijacking (carjacking) is still the most feared crime. The robbers - usually at least two - mostly wait for their victims in residential areas, for example right at their garages or driveways in the mornings or in the afternoons, sometimes also at traffic lights. The victim is being forced at gunpoint to leave the car and hand it over. Each year approximately 9000 cars get stolen by armed gangs in the Gauteng area. According to the police, the number of hijackings has decreased during the past year, apparently due to the activities of the new "Anti-Hijacking Taskforce" established in 2002. Statistically one in a thousand citizens of Gauteng becomes per year the victim of a car hijacking. - After all, one doesn't have be to overly frightened when driving in Johannesburg, but should always be alert.