Two releases, one week
The crime stats South Africa put out in the past week come from two official sources, and they do not tell the same story. The South African Police Service released its first quarter figures for 2026/27 on Friday 28 August 2026, showing murder and violent crime down. Statistics South Africa released its Victims of Crime figures on 1 September 2026, showing assault up and most crime never reaching a police station at all.
Both are official. They count different things over different periods.
What the police recorded between April and June 2026
Acting National Police Commissioner Puleng Dimpane presented the first quarter figures in Pretoria. Every change below is against the same quarter in 2025.
| Crime category | Change on April to June 2025 |
|---|---|
| Murder | Down 5,9%, from 5 770 to 5 427 |
| Contact crime | Down 2,3%, from 145 446 to 142 112 |
| Trio crimes | Down 16,4%, from 13 116 to 10 960 |
| Truck hijacking | Down 21% |
| Carjacking | Down 18,2% |
| Robbery at residential premises | Down 17,6% |
| Robbery with aggravating circumstances | Down 14,7% |
| Robbery at non-residential premises | Down 11,8% |
| Sexual offences | Down 0,8% |
Dimpane said 5 427 murders in 90 days remain far too many. Police arrested 171 986 suspects during the quarter, including 28 475 wanted suspects linked to serious crimes. They seized 1 583 illegal firearms and 27 053 rounds of ammunition, recovered 780 hijacked and stolen vehicles, closed 6 529 liquor premises and arrested 9 813 motorists for driving under the influence.
What households told Stats SA
The Governance, Public Safety and Justice Survey asks people what happened to them, whether or not they went to the police. Housebreaking stayed the most common household crime in 2025/26, with about 1,5 million incidents affecting 5,3% of households. Male-headed households, households whose head has a post-school qualification, and households in KwaZulu-Natal and the Northern Cape were hit hardest. Home robbery, which happens while the family is at home, was second.
For individuals, theft of personal property was the most common experience: roughly 1,2 million people, or 2,6% of everyone aged 16 and older, across about 1,4 million incidents. Men and people in the Western Cape and KwaZulu-Natal were more exposed.
Street robbery went the other way, easing from 529 000 incidents in 2024/25 to 515 000 in 2025/26. Assault rose, from 363 000 people in 2024/25 to 408 000 in 2025/26. Knives were the weapon most often used. Among assault victims, 31,4% of women said the perpetrator was a spouse or intimate partner, against 2,2% of men.
Most of it is never reported
This is the part police numbers cannot show. More than half of the households that were broken into said nothing to the police.
| Crime | Share reported to the police in 2025/26 |
|---|---|
| Housebreaking | About 48% of affected households |
| Street robbery | 41,7% of incidents |
| Theft of personal property | 37,3% of victims |
Reporting is improving. The housebreaking rate is 4,8 percentage points higher than the year before, and street robbery reporting rose from 36,4%. Even so, 62,7% of people who had personal property stolen chose not to report any of it.
Why the two sets do not match
Three things separate them.
The periods differ. The police figures cover April to June 2026. The Stats SA release covers a full survey year, 2025/26.
The method differs. SAPS counts cases opened at police stations. Stats SA interviews households and records what they say happened.
The universe differs. A crime that is never reported cannot appear in police statistics, but it can appear in the survey. Stats SA is explicit that the survey complements police statistics rather than replacing them.
So recorded murder falling and survey assault rising are not necessarily in conflict. They answer different questions.
What people are doing instead
Nearly half of South Africans now take a deliberate step to protect themselves. The share doing so rose from 43,3% in 2024/25 to 46,6% in 2025/26. The most common measure was walking only during safer hours, at 31,5%, followed by installing burglar bars, gates and other physical security, at 29,9%. That shift shows up in the way neighbourhoods are changing, from private security contracts to walls, cameras and access control in the suburbs.
Perceptions of safety barely moved. In 2025/26, 80,7% of people felt safe walking alone in their neighbourhood during the day, down from 81,0%. After dark that dropped to 37,9%, though this was up from 36,1%. Limpopo was the outlier, with 98,0% feeling safe during the day and 69,1% after dark.
Household targets have also shifted. Solar panels, inverters and batteries are now a specific target for syndicates working residential areas, and robberies at churches have risen.
Where to check
Statistics South Africa publishes the Victims of Crime release under P0341 at statssa.gov.za, with the full report available from the publications page. The data story summarising the 2025/26 findings was posted on 1 September 2026.
SAPS publishes quarterly crime statistics at saps.gov.za under Services, Crime Statistics, along with its release calendar for the 2026/27 financial year. The next quarterly release covers July to September 2026.
If you are comparing the two, check the reference period on the front of each publication first. That single line explains most of the apparent contradictions.
