Crime - theft, Cape Town

As a Capetonian who also lives in New York, I have also an outsider's perspective on my mother city.

I have never been a victim of any crime, major or petty, in Cape Town.

Use your common sense.

Do not leave valuables in plain sight in your car. Lock them in the trunk.

Lock your car doors while driving.

Do not walk at night on deserted city streets. Stick to well-used playgrounds, eg. Long Street, Bree Street, Kloof, Malay Quarter, Napier Street, etc. Do your homework.

Don't wear a camera slung around your neck or a pouch strapped to your waist. They may as well be bulls eyes painted on you, screaming, "Tourist! Rob me!"

I hike a lot in the mountains: I have never been mugged, but there have been muggings. I always carry a camera and I carry pepper spray in case, but would only use it if I felt my life was in danger. The wind blows a lot and I may just pepper pepper spray myself! If you are mugged, do not resist. Be calm, give them what they want. A camera is not worth an injury.

If you hike: Plan your route; take a map; take water, take a windbreaker- the weather changes on dime in the peninsula. Slingsby's maps are brilliant. http://www.slingsbymaps.com/

Cape Town is stunning.

there is "no" security in this place.
several thousands of dollars of camera equipment were stolen from the boot/trunk of the auto parked "securely" while "security" watched it....

wha??
Beware of the advertisement with the lady with the new soccer/football stadium on her head.

Always leave your car empty of anyting. They will have it.

Please be extremely vigilant when visiting a family establishment by the name of Joostenberg on the R304 in the Western Cape. This is a beautiful family owned business with an area to eat and have fun, but it seems a crime syndicate that was acknowledge by the owner has been targeting them and other establishments in the area. No warning is given, no security guards were employed, no visible signs warning people of the danger. The problem that might occur is the fact that criminals evolve and no one could ever know exactly what they are prepared to do to get what does not belong to them. If you do decide to visit this lovely place, please be extra vigilant, and the question to ask would be, is the life of my kids worth it, should anything happen. No details will be given on the incident that happen due to emails that were sent from the attorneys. Life to our families should be more than just money, it should be quality of life.

You may be unaware of this, but if you are purchasing anything of value (antiques, diamonds, gold, coins, rare plants, gemstones, rare minerals etc.) in South Africa and are planning to not declare or to under-declare the value of your belongings when departing South Africa, it is in your best interest to not tell any local dealer or seller who you are, where you live and especially when your departure date and time is. Do not at any cost or time agree to be given a free friendly ride by any even the most decent looking gentleman, be him a shop owner or even a President of a company. You will be surprised how many shopkeepers and dealers will ask you when you are leaving and will kindly offer you a free friendly ride to the airport in their own car to farewell you to the far away land. If you do, you may regret that very much. Here's how the whole thing works:

The local dealers, shop owners etc. have friends at the South African Customs with whom special secret "business" agreements are made to sell to them the confiscated goods by the airport Customs officers at a fraction of their value. Once a departee agrees to be given a ride by someone like a shopkeeper and both of you arrive at the airport you may be carefully suggested to not declare your belongings or even if no suggestion is made the shopkeeper may inform the Customs officer (usually their accomplice or a friend) about the incoming "gem" (you). If the particular Customs officer catches you under-declaring or not declaring your valuables, they will surely confiscate them and sell them at a fraction of their value to the waiting shopkeeper after you're gone back to your country. Not sure how exactly they execute all this cause this has never happened to me, but one of my friends told me he was offered free rides by so many shopkeepers that he knew that he became naturally suspicious and was told by one honest man to be careful with such rides.

Instead of bringing you to the airport, these decent looking people that look just like one of your relatives could as well arrange the entire robbery thing, if not rob you themselves, you never know, so better be safe than sorry.

One of possible scenarios would be the friendly ride giver could stop by at some petrol station or shop in a remote area in Cape Town and while they are shopping there and you are sitting in their car some "strangers" could be robbing you at a gun point.

Therefore, to avoid this, always declare full value of your belongings that you take out of the country and be secretive who you are, where and when you go and when you depart. You may pay a small Customs fee or a taxi cab fee as opposed to getting everything confiscated. Instead, have someone who you really trust give you a ride to the airport, someone who does not know nor cares what your belongings are.

I am a single female in her 50s who has travelled to South Africa alone - Cape Town, Durban and Johannesburg on two separate trips for over a month.

Cape Town is a city where you have to be fully aware of your surroundings at all time but I was exposed to no crime. Definitely had to be indoors by sunset for safety reasons.

The country is spectacular and well worth the visit. You see the rich and the poor within distance of one another. Poverty prevails but beauty of nature is immense.

Like most major cities in the world, you have to be aware of dangerous areas and all major cities like Cape Town, Durban and Johannesburg (especially).

Enjoy your trip as you will be delighted as I was.

We had been in Cape Town just three days when we were robbed at knifepoint at 4am in the morning in a private home in Newlands. Don't assume there is no crime in Newlands, it is everywhere, and probably assisted by domestics giving information to criminal associates. Police did not even bother to search surrounding properties, so we had no chance of getting passports back, let alone cash, cameras etc. Cape Town and South Africa?, never ever again, unhelpful sullen people, particularly at airports, but also in shops etc. A very dangerous place.

Take a cab there are plenty of them but if you must walk in the city (Cape Town) at night, there are lots of security people at every corner, just about. This may be since the World Cup is just around the corner, anyway just stand next to one until you see another in the direction you are walking and walk to them. I've just spent a week in Cape Town w/ about 25 other crew members aboard a ship, most of whom are night crawlers and there were no reported incidents.
On the other hand we've been to Barbados numerous times and have been mugged, beaten up and robbed on fairly regular basis. I was held up at gun point just outside of Bridgetown one night right inside a bar's bathroom. So no matter where you are, have your wits about you.

The centre of capetown has become a muggers paradise.I have lived in the centre of town for 4 years and there was never a problem but seems that things have changed dramatically.I have witnessed 2 x tourists being mugged in St Georges Mall in broad daylight. A guy had his cellphone removed from his hand near safmarine hse, he was out numbered and rather let it go than resist to these crooks. A month a go i was unfortunate to be in an attempted mugging,just of heerengracht str, i was more fortunate but thought that it was time people know you must not take your safety in capetown for granted