I know a few people from South Africa, both there and emigres. I've visited Cape Town briefly. It's a beautiful country and there are many redeeming things to be said about it. But the fact that the 20% of the population that can afford it lives in gated communities with armed private security patrols doesn't strike me as being less scared of death. Quite the opposite, really. My overall impression of life in South Africa from the picture I got includes a pronounced streak of constant vigilance and fear. Not just of violence, but fear of fraud or abuse of authority, or poverty of a kind alien to me in a developed country, or lack of medical care, too.