Murder has claimed the lives of fewer South Africans between January and March this year, while violent crime in general is also down over the three months.
The South African Police Service (Saps) and the Ministry of Police on Friday released the country’s crime statistics for the fourth quarter of the 2025-26 financial year.
Police Minister Firoz Cachalia confirmed that fewer crimes had been reported in that quarter than in the same period the previous year, but stressed it was still too high.
“The figures that will be presented today are not just numbers. They are a stark mirror held up to our society.
“Behind every statistic is a traumatised victim, a distraught family, a community living in fear,” mused the minister.
Violent crime down
The stats presented reflect the independently assessed figures collected from 1 175 police stations across the country.
Between January and March 2025, 5 727 murder cases were reported, with the number dropping to 5 181 for 2026 – a decrease of 9.5% and a further drop of 20.7% decrease from the same quarter in 2024.
Four out of every five murders occurred in either Gauteng, KwaZulu-Natal (KZN), or the Eastern and Western Cape.
The Eastern Cape had the highest per capita murder rate with 14.3 murders per 100 000 people, with Western Cape, KZN and Gauteng at 12.8, 8.8 and 7.1, respectively.
Violent crimes, listed as contact crimes, were down 4.6% across the board, featuring a 20.4% decrease in house robberies, 22% decrease in non-residential robberies and 18.3% decrease in business robberies.
Additionally, burglary, motor vehicle theft, stock theft and other property-related crimes were down a combined 8.5%.
However, rape is not counted among contact crimes but under sexual offences, with police recording 9 782 rapes in the space of the three months mentioned.
That number may be down from 11 430 rapes reported between October and December 2025. Cachalia noted that 47% of reported rapes occurred at the home of the victim or perpetrator.
“These figures tell a complex story: one of progress that is real and measurable, but also that we continue to be challenged by deep‑rooted violence and organised criminality that threaten our people and our democracy,” said Cachalia.
This is a developing story.
