By Lehlohonolo Lehana.
Police minister Senzo Mchunu released the fourth-quarter crime statistics for the 2024/2025 financial year, covering the period from January to March 2025.
The latest crime stats from the South African Police Service for the first three months of 2025 show that the number of murders in South Africa dropped by 12.4% to 5,727 murders since the beginning of the year.
This is a vast improvement from the same period in 2022, 2023 and 2024, where murders totalled over 6,000 for the period.
The murder rate per 100,000 has also dropped from 10.6 in 2024 to 9.1 in 2025. However, this remains above the 8.3 seen in the same period in 2021.
When it comes to murder, the Eastern Cape remains the most dangerous province. Per every 100,000 people, 15.4 people are murdered.
However, this is far lower than the 17.4 recorded in the same period in 2024, and beats the 2022 level.
The Western Cape had the second-highest murder rate at 14.2, a decrease from the 15 seen in 2024.
KwaZulu-Natal completed the top three but saw a huge drop from 12.4 in 2024 to 10.0 in 2025. Gauteng also saw a decline from 9.7 to 8.5 and remained in fourth.
However, South Africa’s least populated province, the Northern Cape, saw a significant increase in its murder rate, rising from 6.8 per 100,000 to 8.3.
Despite being a relatively small number compared to other provinces, the Northern Cape’s total number of murders increased by 23.1% to 112.
Given their larger populations, Gauteng and KwaZulu-Natal saw the largest number of murders at 1,439 and 1,193, respectively.
Mchunu noted that although the Northern Cape contributes only 2% to the total murder statistics, the increase cannot be ignored and will be addressed with targeted actions.
Outside of the Northern Cape, all other provinces in South Africa, including the Free State, Mpumalanga, North West and Limpopo, saw notable increases in their murder rates.
Mchunu said 4,023 cases of illegal possession of firearms and ammunition were registered, a 2.7% increase compared to the same period last year. Police also seized 1,641 illegal firearms and 24,288 rounds of ammunition.
Assault with intent to cause grievous bodily harm decreased by 5.3%, common assault by 3.4%, common robbery by 7.9%, and stock theft decreased by 8.9%. Trio crimes – cash in transit, bank and truck hijacking – decreased by 12.1%.
He further said sexual offences, including rape and contact sexual offences, along with commercial crime, have increased.
Sexual offences climbed to 13,452 cases. Rape increased by 0.3% to 10,688 and contact sexual offences rose sharply by 21%.
Gauteng and KwaZulu-Natal contributed the most to this total, accounting for nearly 40% combined. Alarmingly, 80 rape cases occurred at educational facilities, including day cares, schools, special schools and tertiary institutions.
A new national policing policy was approved by the cabinet on May 15, Mchunu said. This intends to strengthen police service delivery to communities by ensuring professionalism and efficiencies in policing and is supported by a crime prevention strategy which seeks to address violence at its root causes.
Following the meeting with US President Donald Trump and President Cyril Ramaphosa, Mchunu criticised the claims of a “white genocide” in South Africa.
Mchunu said that the term “genocide” is distinctly foreign and strange, adding that lots of material has been put into circulation by the White House.
“We have respect for the USA as a country, we have respect for the people in that country and for Trump, but we have no respect for this genocide story at all,” said Mchunu.
DA MP Ian Cameron, who chairs the parliamentary portfolio committee on policing, said an average of 62 murders per day between January and March proved the need for more changes.
Cameron called on Mchunu to approve devolved policing powers, enhanced crime intelligence and localised enforcement partnerships.
“These figures reveal a system in persistent crisis. The case of Cape Town provides a stark illustration: between 2021 and January 2025, city law enforcement officers seized 1,670 illegal firearms, yet only 81 convictions were secured — a mere 5% success rate,” he said.
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Video Courtesy of SAPS.