"South Africa faces one of the world's worst violent crime crises. In 2024, 26,232 murders about 72 each day and a homicide rate of nearly 42 per 100,000 people, were recorded. Data derived from early 2025 numbers show a 12.4% drop in murders (5,727 cases) and fewer serious assaults, but these gains haven't changed the big picture: violence is still widespread, and many South Africans feel unsafe."
""It has often been linked to the fact that we are among the most unequal societies in the world in terms of wealth distribution, alongside high levels of poverty, and corrupt policing," Ryan Cummings, director of analysis at Signal Risk consultancy based in Cape Town, told DW. Crime is heavily concentrated in major provinces like the Western Cape, Eastern Cape, KwaZulu-Natal, and Gauteng, which consistently report the highest national organized crime figures. "The areas, in a way, are being controlled by the different gangs. Then the gangs fight with each other, and people get shot," Pierre de Vos, a professor of constitutional law at the University of Cape Town, told DW."
South Africa recorded 26,232 murders in 2024 (about 72 per day) and a homicide rate near 42 per 100,000 people. Early 2025 figures show a 12.4% decline in murders (5,727 fewer cases) and reductions in serious assaults, but overall violence remains widespread and many citizens feel unsafe. Crime is concentrated in the Western Cape, Eastern Cape, KwaZulu-Natal, and Gauteng, with gangs controlling areas and fueling shootings. Kidnappings and armed robberies increased, with abductions up 6.8% in Q1 2025. Burglary remains the most common household crime despite an 8.5% decline in property offences. Sexual offences, mainly rape (79% of sexual crimes), continue to rise. In February 2026 President Cyril Ramaphosa ordered the South African National Defence Force to support police, citing organized crime as an immediate national threat.
Read at www.dw.com
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