We are in cape town at the moment

every South African in Australia, news articles etc basically had us convinced we would be mugged at frequent intervals and murdered at least once

my observations
we haven’t done any townships or anything but have done a fair bit of walking around less well trafficked but still central areas after dark. I haven’t felt any more unsafe than I felt in London a few weeks before coming here. You have to be streetwise, there are beggars who can be fairly persistent (but polite and non threatening, just persistent), but it feels comparable with any other major city

i haven’t been to Chicago for a long time but my brother works there half of the year (the other half in London) and he seems satisfied with the safety level in London