Crime in South Africa includes all violent and non-violent crimes that take place in the country of South Africa, or otherwise within its jurisdiction. When compared to other countries, South Africa has notably high rates of violent crime and has a reputation for consistently having one of the highest murder rates in the world. The country also experiences high rates of organised crime relative to other countries.
The majority of crime in South Africa occurs in its four most populous provinces; the Eastern Cape, Gauteng, KwaZulu-Natal, and the Western Cape—more specifically, in and around major metropolitan areas within those provinces.
While some major cities experience similar crime throughout their suburbs, crime in others is mainly isolated to specific neighborhoods. Johannesburg, for example, experiences a range of crimes across the metropolitan area, driven by many various factors, including poverty. In contrast, crime in Cape Town occurs mainly in a small list of specific suburbs, and is driven predominantly by gangsterism.
Crime rates in South Africa's cities may be skewed significantly by the type and location of those crimes. Furthermore, for the average resident and visitor, the experience in terms of safety when traveling around a major city in South Africa is likely to vary greatly between cities.
In the Crime Index 2026 ranking, the five worst-ranking cities for crime in South Africa, with their respective global ranks on the list, were Pietermaritzburg (1), Pretoria (2), Johannesburg (5), Durban (6), and Gqeberha (8). Numbeo's Crime Index reflects perceptions of crime and safety reported by visitors to its website, rather than police-recorded crime rates.
Causes Crime levels have been attributed to poverty, problems with delivery of public services, and wealth disparity. The Institute for Security Studies also highlighted factors beyond poverty and inequality, particularly social stress from uncaring environments in early childhood and subsequent lack of guardianship. South Africa's high crime rates, recidivism and overburdened criminal justice system have been described as a crisis which will require a radical rethink of crime and punishment in young people.
In February 2007, the Centre for the Study of Violence and Reconciliation was contracted by the South African government to carry out a study on the nature of crime in South Africa. The study pointed out different factors which contributed to high levels of violence. Violent and non-violent crimes in South Africa have been ascribed to:
The normalisation of violence. Violence is seen by many as a necessary and justified way of resolving conflict, and some men believe that coercive sexual behaviour towards women is legitimate. A subculture of violence and criminality, ranging from individual criminals who rape or rob, to informal groups or more formalised gangs. Those involved in the subculture are engaged in criminal careers and commonly use firearms, with the exception of Cape Town, where knife violence is more prevalent. Credibility within this subculture is related to the readiness to resort to extreme violence. The vulnerability of young people due to inadequate child-rearing, followed by poor guardianship and youth socialisation. Due to poverty and deprivation, unstable living arrangements and inconsistent parenting, some South African children are exposed to risk factors which increase their chances of becoming involved in criminality and violence. High levels of inequality, poverty, unemployment, social exclusion and marginalisation. The consumption and abuse of alcohol is a demonstrable cause or contributing factor in many violent crimes including murder, attempted murder, assault, gender-based assault and rape cases. These incidents regularly occur in or directly outside bars, taverns, shebeens or nightclubs. In addition many South Africans, including on-duty policemen, are arrested for drinking and driving, a crime which is linked to 27% of fatal road accidents. In traditional African culture, cattle theft from rival tribes served an important social and cultural function within chiefdoms, and was considered a rite of passage for young warriors. Tax profitability of crimes such as smuggling, tender fraud and state capture, besides tax evasion and VAT fraud itself, due to the alleged inefficiency and lack of procedural measures at SARS, the priorities of which are geared towards cooperative and law-abiding citizens.
Law enforcement The country relies on a criminal justice system that is mired in many issues, including inefficiency, corruption and internal polarisation.
Organization and finances In 2020 the Institute for Security Studies pointed out that the SAPS proceeded from crisis to crisis, had not implemented the proposals for effective policing outlined in the National Development Plan of 2012, and had inept and unskilled personnel in top posts. Following 2019's gang violence and 2021's unrest it was pointed out that the military is increasingly deployed to assist with policing tasks for which it is poorly suited or equipped, while the manifestly dysfunctional policing infrastructure is not attended to.
The SAPS announced a streamlining of its organizational and top structure in 2020, following major restructuring in 2016. The SAPS got qualified audits for the years 2016/17 through 2019/20, as audit requirements for purchases, contracts, prevention of irregular expenses and quality of financial statements were not upheld.
Irregular expenditure amounted to R33 million in 2017/18, R996 million in 2018/19 and R452 million in 2019/20, excluding fruitless and wasteful expenditure and expenses incurred due to civil actions against it, which in 2019/20 amounted to R522 million.
Police stations Some police stations are distant from the communities they serve, while others become overburdened in precincts that experience rapid urbanization. Some stations are closed at night due to staffing issues and lack of available officers. In many instances police officers work long hours out of under-resourced stations which may lack basic office equipment like a photocopier or a fax machine, while the only landline telephone may be busy. Office electricity may be cut for non-payment, or office buildings may be closed due to rent defaults.
SAPS officers are often deployed in life-threatening situations, and the Ngcobo killings of 2018 highlighted security at police stations. After additional attacks on police stations in the Western Cape, Northern Cape, Limpopo, Mpumalanga and North West, SAPU suggested that these crimes be considered acts of treason.
Logistics
Of 5,781 police vehicles in Gauteng, 1,407 or almost a quarter were out of order in 2020, which negatively affected reaction times and visible policing. Three to four detectives rely on a single vehicle, meaning that detectives have to share with a colleague to visit a crime scene. Poor quality infrastructure prevented the conversion of paper dockets to an e-docket system, while its PCEM, FPS and VA-AMIS systems, acquired from FDA to keep tabs on case evidence and firearms, functioned only intermittently from 2018 to 2021.
From 2018 to 2020, funds were insufficient to supply service members with new uniforms, though some were found in the possession of blue light bandits and other armed robbers. Bulletproof vests were likewise in short supply. By 2020 some toxicological reports of the SAPS were lagging by as much as a decade, while the number of unprocessed DNA samples at the National Forensic Science Laboratories (NFSL) reached a backlog of 117,000 due to mismanagement of the supply chain process.
Ordnance management Ordnance is regularly stolen from the security forces or security firms, and it is feared that these may be used in other crimes. The July 2019 UNODC report highlighted a surge in the availability of illegal firearms, including hundreds which are diverted from SAPS custody by corrupt officials, particularly to gangs.
From 2010 to 2015, two SAPS colonels sold 5,000 police firearms worth R9 million to gangs in the Western Cape, and in 2022 two members of the JMPD were arrested for allegedly supplying criminals with R5 ammunition. Firearms stolen from, or lost by, the SANDF during the period 2017–2020 included 57 R4 or R5 rifles, 10 Z88 pistols, five Beretta pistols, four Star pistols, a pair of SIG Sauer pistols, and one Glock and Vector handgun each. Ammunition stolen from, or lost by, the SANDF during the same period were 7,618 rounds of 5.56mm ammunition, 340 rounds of 5.45mm and 7.62mm ammunition for light machine guns (LMGs) and assault rifles, besides some 9mm and 12.7mm ammunition, a stun grenade and smoke grenade.
As of 2021, the fire arms register was dysfunctional, and the SAPS did not know to which officers arms were issued. Fire arms licensing, licensing renewals and amnesty applications are subject to red tape, inefficiency and backlogs until envisaged online procedures replace the CFR.
Operational inefficiency When suspects are apprehended, the police lack experience to prepare a thorough prima facie case, leaving the National Prosecuting Authority (NPA) powerless to institute legal proceedings. This results in very low conviction rates of serious crimes. Only 2% of vehicle hijackings, 2% of robberies of either residential or commercial premises, 9% of sexual offences (5% of adult rape and 9% of child rape cases) result in convictions.
As of 2020 less than 20% of murder investigations would result in a trial date being set, down from 31% in 2010/11. Cooperation between the SAPS and private prosecution initiatives have been effective in stalled cases.
Human resource management While South Africa had one police officer to 250 members of the public in 2010, this ratio decreased to one to 450 in 2022. The force dedicated to rail network policing was reduced by about 6,000 between 1986 and 2010, which exposed the network to train arson attacks and widespread looting of infrastructure. Mass recruitment of unskilled applicants occurs, and some of these are trained at substandard facilities.
In what is seen as a culture of non-liability, very few police personnel are being expelled from the service. Instead disciplinary hearings have declined greatly in frequency, skilled recruits are not sensibly deployed, and from 2018 to 2019, 22% of officers received promotions without regard to their performance.
The SAPS's very understaffed Crime Intelligence Division was at times effective, but also subject to enduring power struggles during which effective members were sidelined. Effective control of explosives used in various crimes is only achieved by joint investigation task teams that engage in collaborative operations. The SAPS's capacity and resource constraints however, besides a lack of intelligence sharing with border control officials and poor internal, inter-departmental collaboration, hamper their execution of operations in this specialized area.
Budget cuts in training and explosive consumables for detectives and prosecutors fundamentally constrain the SAPS's operating ability, and as of 2018–2021, SAPS staff was not receiving any refresher courses. Some economic crimes go undetected, while the imposed penalties amount to little deterrence. Meaningful enforcement would require specialist detectives in dedicated investigative departments. From 2020 to 2023, 10111 emergency response centres of all provinces were severely understaffed, resulting in millions of calls being dropped annually.
Corruption