Originally Posted by LH_Fan
I spent approx. 4 weeks in JNB last year on business. I did not perceive the airport as dangerous, I did not perceive the immediate surroundings of my hotel (Hilton) as dangerous (no problem crossing the street to the shopping/dining mall), I did not perceive getting from the airport to the Hilton as dangerous, and in fact I did not perceive driving from the Hilton some 300 km to safari locations as dangerous. The one thing I did not do in JNB was running outside - I used the Hilton gym treadmill instead. I think as long as you know what you're doing (and where you're doing it) in JNB - something I would expect of pilots and FAs -, JNB is just fine - and as you say, there are any number of places less predictable than JNB.
I have to say, I find the sense of corruption in JNB almost tangible (and I watch a lot of the news I see coming out of SA with alarm). The thing that really hit me about JNB when I was first transferred there was how passengers behaved in the business lounge. This is the first lounge I've ever been in where guests carried everything they had with them if they needed to use the toilet (this doesn’t even happen in NBO)! JNB is the first (and only) airport I've been in where items have been taken from my checked in luggage (and a colleague had a laptop stolen from his checked in luggage).
I had high hopes of South Africa post apartheid but I cannot defend the country it has become.
Of course, it isn't exactly Lagos by a long stretch but still very disappointing for a major international airport in the country that should be flying the flag (and be the guiding light) for Africa.