»How is the life in Johannesburg (Joburg) in Africa?«

It is a bit frightening to come to a big city where the general advice is to keep your car door locked when you are driving, where most homes have bars in front of doors and windows and electrical wires on top of the big fences that surrounds the properties etc.
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Most people that I have spoken to associate Johannesburg with one thing: crime. Unfortunately the city has got a bad reputation and I was a bit scared too when I got there the first time and Nikki told me about the safety precautions that she usually took when she was driving, staying at home etc. These are issues that I never really give any thought to in Norway. According to BBC (in September 2004) murders committed in the year to April fell by 8% to just under 20,000 compared with the previous 12 months. Canada which has a similar sized population has only about 550 murders on average per year. I guess it is not fair comparing these two countries but I guess it shows that South Africa has a challenge when it comes to crime.

I have just spent 2 months there. Seems to me a distinction can be made between Joburg & the rest. In Joburg even the taxi drivers wouldn't take me near the city centre. The well off whites stay in heavily armed fortresses of shopping mall suburbia, whilst the blacks occupy the inner city and townships. This is no way to live. South Africa is bound to have a difficult time ahead to reverse the impact of decades of apartheid. I hope it can achieve this peacefully. I would add that I had a safe trip, and would go back - avoiding Joburg of course.

Sure, South Africa has its hot spots of crime, especially Johannesburg. However, there is an ever increasing wave of violent crime sweeping the world. "Why?" one asks. Part of the problem could be the excessive permissiveness and lack of consequences associated with violent crime. In a world where murderers and rapists often receive sentencing and parole allowances in line with shoplifting offences, one cannot help but wonder whether the global justice system has lost its collective sanity.

My friend's girlfriend is from Jo'burg. She says that after dusk, women are allowed to drive through red lights to avoid being hijacked or worse!