SA Home Security: Safety or Insanity?

Home security is paramount in Joburg.

It isn’t a question of whether or not your property has a wall. The real question is: how high is it?

I knew coming into SA that things would be very different in regards to home protection.

Years ago, Justin sent me photos of his front gate. It was the first time that I had seen such an imposing structure on the property of an average, middle-income family home. It resembled something I would see at a museum parking lot.

When I returned the favour and shared a picture of my own house and front yard, he was taken aback to see a street spoiled with open space.

In Canada, we are lucky to enjoy lawns that spill over unchallenged into those of our neighbours. Front doors can be plainly left open with only a screen to partition the inside from the out. Toys, garden tools, and other random items are routinely abandoned on front yards and decks – most times, over night – and remain untouched by strangers. Cars are parked in driveways, unlocked. In winter, we not only leave our cars unprotected on the driveway, but we warm them up by leaving them running with the keys in the ignition.

The high crime rates in SA dictate a very different way of life.

In Joburg, your home and your car are protected with the utmost vigilance.

Homes have walls. Very tall walls. With intercoms, inset lighting and topped with coils of barbed wire, metal spikes, and electric fencing. Both the fence and the house are equipped with an alarm system that immediately responds with a phone call from the security company if the code is not punched in within minutes of it being triggered.

You do not park your car on residential streets. You live with an iron cage around your front door that you keep locked all day and all night. Nearly every home has a guard dog or two (or three...) for extra protection. Some homes even employ security cameras that channel a live feed of their gate and driveway into their home.

See the security camera perched alongside the electrical wire?

There have been countless cultural differences that I have been working on assimilating here in SA... but I tell ya... one of the toughest so far has been these damn walls.

They haunt my brain.

Okay, so maybe that is a tad overdramatic.

But, really now.

For someone who grew up in a place where wide, glorious open space abounds, confronting streets that are lined on either side like hedges in a maze is a maddening daily task.

Driving around town in Canada allows you the luxury of actually seeing the homes that whiz by you. Who hasn’t passed the time whilst driving by humming and hawing over so-and-so’s new lawn furniture or fancy landscaping?

In SA, you rarely see yards. It is just stretch upon stretch of walls and rooftops.

It’s hard not to feel like a rat caught in a labyrinth.

The walls are supposed to make people feel safe, but they do the exact opposite for me. They are a stark reminder that in SA, predators are never far away and you must guard your valuables by all means necessary.

Here is a smattering of walls and gates that can be found on Justin’s block.

BASIC:
Iron bars, metal shards, and low concrete

 Notice the sharp metal shards attached at the top?

ADVANCED:

Extremely tall/barbed wire/electric fencing/metal shards

Can you spot the four strings of electric wire on the top?

...and again, look atop...

SO. HIGH.

 I know what you're thinking and yes -- this IS a private home's wall!

 This guy's opted for both metal spikes and electric fencing

FRONT GATES:

To average homes

 

 

JUSTIN'S HOUSE:

...so that my mother can rest assured I am well protected


 The front gate is remote-operated with both intercom and electric wiring

 The actual front door of the house may be open, but this cage around it always stays locked

 Aww let me ouuutttt!

Backyard walls

 Electric fencing galore!

Even with my hand streched high, the walls easily beat me!

So, what do y'all think of all these security measures? Safe or insane? Would you feel more secure in Canada with these types of home security options? Do you think they would put you off as much as they have me?