A shared responsibility Citizens are encouraged to report suspicious activity to Ensure Ubuntu ambassadors and patrol teams operating throughout the CBD, while businesses are invited to engage directly with the organisation to identify local challenges and opportunities for improvement.
Every weekday morning, thousands of commuters step off minibus taxis from Chatsworth, Phoenix, Merebank, and Newlands onto the pavements of Durban's inner city. From shop workers, students, government employees, traders, and daily shoppers. For years, many have described the same walk from the rank as a daily risk assessment, which street, which time, and which corner to avoid.
New figures from Ensure Ubuntu and eThekwini Municipality suggest that daily calculation may finally be changing.
A sustained partnership between eThekwini Municipality, law enforcement agencies, and private urban management firm Ensure Ubuntu is being credited with a significant reduction in serious crime across the Durban CBD, while simultaneously improving cleanliness, safety, and investor confidence in South Africa's third-largest city.
According to Ensure Ubuntu's 2025/26 Impact Report, compiled using South African Police Service (SAPS) crime data for the Durban Central precinct, serious crime in the CBD fell from 2,044 recorded cases to 1,784 over the year to March 2026: a drop of 260 incidents.
