The World Population Review (WPR) recently ranked South Africa third on the list of countries with the highest crime rate globally.

Development Diaries reports that South Africa, in the WPR Crime Rate by Country 2023 ranking, scored an index of 76.86 points.

Figures from the South African Police Service (SAPS) reveal that more than 6,200 people were murdered between January and March 2023, representing an average of about 70 murders a day.

In a bid to curb the rising crime rate in the country, University of Cape Town (UCT) student and community activist, Zukile Ntentema, is set to establish the first youth violence-prevention centre in the country.

The anti-crime initiative, it is understood, will be housed at UCT, and will support government, law enforcement agencies and civil society to effectively monitor crime trends in Cape Town.

It will also inform new, targeted crime prevention strategies aimed at the youth.

The centre plans to develop Afrocentric, evidence-based strategies and interventions to fight crime and help make the city a safer place.

According to Ntentema, the core of the centre’s work will be monitoring crime levels in the metropole, predicting if and when new incidences are likely to occur, and developing targeted crime-prevention strategies aimed at the youth living in dangerous communities on the Cape Flats.

Ntentema stated that the centre will partner with non-governmental organisations, community policing forums and other stakeholders working in hard-hit communities to execute this mandate successfully and to address the crime scourge.

He believes that establishing the centre is an important step towards fighting crime in the city and has already joined forces with the South African Police Services youth desk, the Western Cape Government and the City of Cape Town for them to contribute to his initiative in meaningful ways.

Photo source: DW