South Africa's Crime Landscape According to SAPS Q4 2024/2025 Statistics

23 Jun 2025

The latest crime statistics from the South African Police Service reveal a mixed picture of the country's security situation, with both worrying trends and positive developments across different crime categories during the fourth quarter of 2024/2025.

Contact crimes, those committed directly against people, dominated the statistics with 161,672 incidents reported nationally in Q4 2024/2025. This category remains the biggest challenge for law enforcement and communities nationwide. The good news is that South Africa recorded a 2.91% drop in all crimes when comparing Q4 2023/2024 to Q4 2024/2025.

Crime is heavily concentrated in three provinces, Gauteng leads with 26% of all reported crimes, followed by the Western Cape at 22% and KwaZulu-Natal at 16%. This concentration reflects the high population numbers and economic activity in these areas.

Common assault was the most frequently reported contact crime, with 48,872 incidents during the quarter. This represents a significant amount of violence happening in communities across the country. On a more positive note, murder cases dropped substantially by 12.4% nationally when comparing the same quarters year-on-year.

Sexual offences paint a particularly disturbing picture, being the only contact crime category that increased between Q4 2023/2024 and Q4 2024/2025. Breaking down sexual offences, rape makes up 79% of all sexual crimes, followed by sexual assault at 14%, attempted sexual offences at 5%, and contact sexual offences at 2%. Educational premises remain vulnerable, with Eastern Cape, KwaZulu-Natal, and Limpopo reporting the highest numbers of rape incidents at schools and educational facilities. Schools accounted for 60% of these incidents, with tertiary education institutions making up 25% of cases.

Property-related crimes delivered some of the best news in the statistics, showing an 8.5% decrease nationally between Q4 2023/2024 and Q4 2024/2025. This downward trend appears to be holding, with South Africa recording a 12.26% decrease in property-related crimes over the longer period from Q4 2020/2021 to Q4 2024/2025. Burglary at homes remains the most common property crime, accounting for 44.30% of all property-related incidents. Theft from motor vehicles makes up 23.78% of property crimes, while burglary at businesses contributes 15.18%.

The "trio crimes" of carjacking, residential robbery, and non-residential robbery continue to cause serious problems. Robbery at homes leads this category with a 40.14% share of aggravated robbery incidents, followed by carjacking at 32.99% and robbery at businesses at 24.00%. However, some specialised crime categories showed improvement. Truck hijacking decreased by 21.62% compared to the previous year, while cash-in-transit robberies dropped by 12.50%. Bank robbery incidents remained at zero for the third straight year during Q4, which is a notable security success.

Crime patterns differ significantly across provinces. Gauteng consistently leads in most crime categories, reflecting its position as the economic center and most populated province. The Western Cape and KwaZulu-Natal follow as the second and third highest crime contributors. Most provinces reported decreases in overall crime rates between Q4 2023/2024 and Q4 2024/2025, with the notable exception of the Western Cape, which recorded a 0.95% increase. The Northern Cape, despite having the lowest overall crime numbers, showed increases in several specific categories.

One of the most encouraging developments relates to crimes detected through police action, which increased by 14.7% nationally between Q4 2023/2024 and Q4 2024/2025. Over the longer period from Q4 2020/2021 to Q4 2024/2025, crimes detected through police action jumped by 51.4%, showing improved law enforcement effectiveness and more proactive policing strategies.

While the overall decrease in crime rates offers some hope, the persistence of contact crimes and the increase in sexual offences highlight ongoing problems that need sustained attention. The concentration of crimes in major economic centers suggests that focused interventions in these areas could deliver significant national benefits. The improvement in police detection rates and the continued decrease in property crimes show that some crime prevention strategies are working well. However, the varied nature of the crime situation requires continued vigilance and flexible approaches to ensure these positive trends continue.

For businesses and communities, these statistics highlight the importance of well-rounded security strategies that address both the immediate risks from contact crimes and the ongoing challenges of protecting property in a changing criminal environment.