That is a bit broad. Would you like to narrow the scope a little?

all i have heard from friends of ours, that lived there, was about the crime. that there house had bars, and big security gates, but people still broke in and robbed them, time after time after time.

That is a scary place to live as a white person. I know a number of white South African's that have moved to Australia and that is what they continually say, robberies, driving through red lights at night etc. Furthermore the rugby team, the Springboks, don't play fair.

It depends on where you live. I live in a smallish town for alomost 12 years and I've only had 2 to 3 break in's.

I went there and went on a short motorcycle off road tour/trek ... I enjoyed the place, all the people were great ... I could surely live there ... I guess its like many places these days, stay out of the bad areas.

Stupidly dangerous place to visit and a miserable place to live. I have only news reports and crime stats to base that on. I've never been. The country (ie land) looks amazingly beautiful though.

A very diverse counrty in terms of people as well as geography. I lived there for thirty years and violence only found me once. It just depends where you live over there. I have friends and family in Cape town an the ystill love it. Going back on holiday to CT in the next two years.

I am a white female South African and I've been living in here, in Johannesburg, all my life and I'm NOT going anywhere. It is an astounding country with diverse, charismatic, vibrant people and cultures to match.The people here are one of the most friendliest bunches in the world - and i would know I've done a lot of traveling; not to mention the geographical beauty...wow. I am sick to death of how my beautiful country is portrayed in the media, it is NOT a "crime-ridden" country and we are NOT a "perpetually violent" society. Don't get me wrong, I am fully aware of the statistics and i do accept that we have a lot of crime (especially where i live) but bare in mind the majority of those acts occur in the scummy parts of the country. Like I said I have been living here all my life (23 years)and I have only encountered a petty crime - as for those South Africans that left the country and bad mouth it - STOP IT!!! you are portraying a skewed negative perception and you're making life 1000 x more difficult for us that are still here. We need tourists... we need people to come here and experience this place for what it REALLY is!!!