Ekurhuleni is one of the most dangerous places on earth

Ekurhuleni is one of the most dangerous places on earth, with murder rates that compared with the most violent drug cartel-run towns in Mexico. The city occupied 40th position on the list of the most murderous cities in the world. It had a murder rate of 43.57 killings for every 100 000 people, translating to about four new corpses in the morgue, every day.

Former Democratic Alliance (DA) MP Mike Waters crunched the numbers based on recent violent crime statistics and census numbers. He lives in Ekurhuleni and is fed up with the police.

A total of 1 350 people violently died in Ekurhuleni between 2021 and now. That’s about the murder rate of Brazilian port city Recife, with 43.72 killings per 100 000 and the city of Valencia (42.2 per 100 000) in politically turbulent Venezuela.

At least it was less than Cape Town’s ganglands, which landed the Mother City in 10th position in the world, according to analytical site Statista, with the murder of 66.36 people per 100 000.

In his dissection, Waters identified some of the most dangerous places to live on the East Rand. Waters cited Alberton as the deadliest, with almost 87 killings per 100 000 people, equivalent to some of Mexico’s most violent cartel-run towns like Irrapuato (81 people per 100 000 and home of the 2020 cartel mass shootings).

Germiston ranked ninth with close to 70 murders per 100 000, Benoni rivalled Cape Town in 10th position with just under 70 murders and Tokoza charted 16th. Brakpan was the safest with 20 killings per 100 000 people.

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Nelson Mandela Bay was the next South African city on the list, but it was a bit safer than the East Rand, with just more than 39 murders per 100 000 – on a par with Detroit in the United States.

Recent crime statistics showed murder spiked by 45% in Gauteng. Police attributed some of the spike to arguments and disagreements spiralling out of control.

Centralised policing dysfunctional

Waters believed centralised policing, as the system presently runs, was dysfunctional and said the overall crime statistics proved it.

“It is obvious that the current, highly centralised policing is simply not working. A devolved, well-trained and resourced police is the best way to combat crime. Policing needs to adjust to local factors and conditions are not set in stone by a bureaucrat sitting in Pretoria,” he said.

The Freedom Front Plus said Gauteng police “no longer have any control over crime and there is a serious need for more, better trained police members with adequate equipment”.

The DA shadow minister of police, Andrew Whitfield, said the party called 270 police stations, but less than half answered the phone. A total of 40% of the stations had faulty numbers and the remaining 15% did not even answer their phones after two minutes of ringing.

“This means desperate people in urgent need of their local police are being left to fend for themselves,” said Whitfield.

“If Saps members are not even able to answer the public’s calls, how can it possible effectively fight crime?” The police did not respond to questions at the time of going to print.

– news@citizen.co.za