OVERVIEW OF SOUTH AFRICAN CRIME

A BRIEF INTRODUCTION OF THE COUNTRY's CRIME STATISTICS OVER THE PAST DECADE

Crime statistics for the 2020/2021 financial year represent a period during which South Africa experienced multi-level lockdowns, due to the global outbreak of the novel COVID-19 virus. These statistics are compared to the corresponding period in 2019/2020 financial whereby the country was similarly under various lockdown levels.

These periods are unique due to various strict measures (i.e. travel bans, gathering and alcohol restrictions and curfews) the country had implemented to curb the spread of COVID-19. To provide a holistic view of the country's crime trends, the data shown below go far back as 2012. At a glance, the 2021 crime incidences reported to police precincts indicate a significant decline from those reported in 2012.

The South African Police Service (SAPS) is the institution that is responsible for the publication of crime statistics. These crime statistics serve as an important link in the value chain of the statistics system that informs policy development and planning in the criminal justice system. Crime statistics in South Africa are classified into seven categories with a total of 31 individual crimes being divided amongst them.

The crime interactive dashboard below provides data on the crimes reported in South Africa in 2021, compared to the same time period of the past 10 years (going back to 2012). The table in the dashboard provides a more detailed overview of the number of crimes committed, per crime type in each of the crime categories.

Power BI Report

As the least populous province in South Africa, the Northern Cape has had the lowest number of crimes reported in the past 10 years. Accounting for only 3% of the country's crime statistics in 2021 with 42 957 crimes reported.

The provinces with metropolitan areas, Gauteng, Western Cape, KwaZulu-Natal and Eastern Cape (in that order) had the largest crime numbers, with Gauteng having 454 555 crime cases, accounting for 28% of South African crimes.

CRIME INCIDENCES BY PROVINCE: 2012-2021 - Infogram

The total sum of crimes reported to various precincts across the country has over the years indicated a continuous and consistent decline. In 2012, bank robberies were ~96% higher than in 2021 with 35 crimes being reported, while the number of cases for the crime type all theft not mentioned elsewhere was higher than the present by 146 571. The below interactive visualisation elaborates on the number of crimes reported to police stations across South Africa by crime type over the last 10 years (2012 - 2021).

Untitled infographic - Infogram

Across all 31 crime types reported in 2021, the number of crimes reported per crime type ranged from 2 to 224 345. The lowest being bank robberies at 2 and the highest being all theft not mentioned elsewhere at 224 345, accounting for 13.6% of all crimes reported. This is the pattern that has prevailed for the past 10 years. The exception was only in 2018 when drug-related crimes surpassed all theft not mentioned elsewhere by 20 891 cases. Making 2018 the year in which most drug-related crimes were reported.

Drug-related crimes includes the unlawful use or possession of drugs and the unlawful dealing of drugs. The number has since decreased (from 2018) by 37.5% to reach 121 359 in 2021. Mitchells Plain, Durban Central, Kleinvlei, Bishop Lavis and Atlantis are the police precincts with the most incidences of drug-related crimes with 3794, 2444, 1434, 1371 and 1340 cases, respectively. The Western Cape, Gauteng and KwaZulu-Natal provinces cumulatively account for 76% of drug-related crimes contributing 37%, 23% and 16%, each.

Illustrated in the diagram is the difference in the number of drug-related crimes reported in 2018 by province versus those in 2021.

2018 vs 2021 DRUG-RELATED CRIMES BY PROVINCE - Infogram

All theft not mentioned elsewhere (crime category - other serious crimes) is defined by the South African Police Service as follows, "Theft refers to the unlawful and intentional appropriation of another’s movable tangible property which is available in commerce, or of such property belonging to the perpetrator himself or herself, but in respect of which somebody else has a particular right of possession."

This crime type has no subcrimes and encompasses all acts of thievery not listed as a crime type within any of the other crime categories. The broad nature of this crime type is what makes it the most reported crime. The map below indicates the locations of the top 30 police stations with the highest number of all theft not mentioned elsewhere crimes.

Crime category contact crimes (crimes against the person) include crimes of the most vicious and violent nature such as murder, sexual offences, assault with the intent to inflict grievous bodily harm and robbery with aggravating circumstances. In 2017 the global murder rate average was 7.4 homicides per 100 000 people. South Africa  ranked 5th  among 97 countries with a murder rate of 35.9 per 100 000 people (~5 folds the average). It was preceded by El Salvador (61.8), Jamaica (57.0), Honduras (41.7) and Belize (37.9).

Overall, with the exception of attempted murder, contact crime incidences in South Africa reflected a decrease. By December 2021, 535 217 of these heinous crimes were reported at police stations across the country, making it the lowest number of incidences for the crime category since 2012. This is indicative of a 13,9% decrease from the same reporting period of the previous year. There were 19 972 murders, 46 214 sexual offences and 18 707 attempted murders recorded for 2021, reflecting a 6.3% decrease, 13.3% decrease and a 0.3% increase, respectively when compared to the crime numbers in 2020.

Gender-based violence (GBV) is violence directed against a person because of their gender. Both women and men experience GBV but the majority of victims are women and girls. Therefore, GBV crimes are often inflicted on women and girls by men.

Gender-based violence can be perpetrated in various forms which include (but are not limited to) physical violence, verbal violence, psychological violence and sexual violence. The World Health Organisation (WHO) states that sexual violence is “any sexual act perfomed on an individual without their consent."

Crimes of this nature are categorised by the SAPS as Total Sexual Offences and include rape, sexual assault, attempted sexual offences and contact sexual offences. Overall, sexually based acts of GBV were at an all time low of 46 214 in the year ending 2021, reflecting a 13.3% decrease from 2020. This can be attributed to curfews, travel bans as well as other restrictive measures implemented to reduce the spread of COVID-19. The restrictions hindered opportunistic acts of sexual assault as the population was mainly confined to their homes.

The highest decrease in this category was from rape incidences, declining by 14.1% to reach 36 330 from 42 289 in 2020. It was closely followed by attempted sexual offences with a decrease of 13.3%, moving down from 2076 in 2020 to reach 1800 in 2021.

Kidnappings in South Africa have recently been in the limelight as a result of the abductions of persons for extortion (ransom). The most recent being the abduction of an 11-year-old girl outside her school in Mayfair in November 2021 and the abductions of the four Moti brothers in October 2021.

Kidnapping cases in South Africa have been fluctuating over the years since the 2011/2012 reporting period. At a rate of 9.6 kidnappings per 100000 people in 2017, South Africa had the third-highest kidnapping rate out of 65 countries, after Belgium and Canada which both have rates of 10.3. Currently (in 2021) South Africa's kidnapping rate has surpassed 10, this is according to the  Institute for Security Studies . In 2021 the number of kidnapping cases reported to police stations indicate a 9% decline, going from 6623 to 6036.

COVID-19 lockdowns and restrictions caused substantial decreases in almost all crime categories in 2021 as well as in 2020. Therefore, crime statistics for these periods (2020 and 2021) indicate a period in which South Africa had multi-level lockdowns making these periods comparable to one another. As the world learners to co-exist with COVID-19 and continue with the developments of vaccines, globally as well as nationally restrictions, bans and lockdowns are being lifted. Making the coming years a period to assess our country's ability to maintain and or decrease the lower crime rates, which were a result of lockdowns.

As a nation that is often highly ranked when it comes to crimes, South Africa needs to aim to improve its imprisonment and conviction rate to ensure that there are fewer perpetrators roaming the nation's streets. As it stands, for every 100 000 people there are currently 279 prisoners. This ranks South Africa at number 24 of 138 in imprisonment rates. Even though there is still great room for improvement South Africa is currently above the global average of imprisonments, which stood at 174 per 100000 in 2017. Such can be attributed to the hard work of the South African Police Services and the country's legislation and judicial systems, which clearly outline crimes and the protocols to be observed during criminal proceedings.

Crime Statistics referenced in this report can be accessed from the SAPS website: Annual crime statistics 2020/2021. Additionally, official global crime rates (referring to the 2017 period) for  kidnapping ,  robbery ,  imprisonment ,  theft  and  homicides  are available from  The Global Economy. 

RELATED ARTICLES AND LINKS

National crime statistics dashboard -  https://crimecheck.news24.com/ 

REFERENCES

South African Police Service (SAPS): 2020/2021 Annual Crime Statistics -  https://www.saps.gov.za/services/crimestats.php 

Thank you for reading!

For more information contact datascience@SAEON.ac.za