South African capital Pretoria second most crime-ridden city in the world: latest ranking

Easy availability of firearms nevertheless played a central role in the rapid growth of violent crime in the country, Rakubu said.Eleven Indian cities were also mentioned in the list, with Delhi being at 70th position, Noida at 87th and Gurgaon at 95th.

South Africa's capital Pretoria is the second most crime-ridden city in the world after Caracas in Venezuela, according to the latest international rankings by Numbeo.

Four other South African cities were on the list, resulting in it being the only country in the world that has five cities in the top 20 on the list released by the website numbeo.com.

The coastal city of Durban was in third place, followed by the economic centre of Johannesburg in fourth position. Port Elizabeth took eighth place, and Cape Town 18th.

Analysts said these rankings appear to be in line with the crime statistics released periodically by South Africa's police minister, Bheki Cele.

In February this year, Cele confirmed while sharing the statistics for the last quarter of 2023 that there were around 7,700 murders during that period. He also disclosed figures for gender-based violence that activists fighting women abuse said were "alarming." "From a sample size of 7,340 murders it was established that arguments, misunderstandings, and provocation remain the top causal factor leading to 1,116 murders. 431 murders were linked to vigilantism and mob justice attacks," Cele said.

The minister highlighted illegal mining and extortionist crimes in various industries also impact South Africa.

"Kidnappings for ransom has become a lucrative commodity for organised crime in South Africa. The SAPS (South Africa Police Services) continues in its efforts to identify and arrest groupings linked to kidnappings especially where ransom demands are being made. More than 300 suspects linked to these kidnappings have been arrested in the last two years," Cele said.

Numbeo said its Crime Index was compiled taking various factors into account -- the general perception of crime levels, perceived safety from residents and visitors, and concerns about specific worries.

A leading criminologist, Professor Kholofelo Rakubu, told the daily The Star that there was no single factor explaining the high levels of violence or violent crime in South Africa.

"Violent crime in South Africa is the product of a variety of factors. Firearm-related crimes have long been a feature of South African society. Easy availability of firearms nevertheless played a central role in the rapid growth of violent crime in the country," Rakubu said.

Eleven Indian cities were also mentioned in the list, with Delhi being at 70th position, Noida at 87th and Gurgaon at 95th. The Indian other cities on the list were Bangalore (102), Indore (136), Kolkata (159), Mumbai (169), Hyderabad (174), Chandigarh (177) and Pune (184).

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