The murder rate in South Africa continued to decrease in the third quarter of the 2024/25 financial year, according to the latest crime statistics.
Addressing the media on Friday, Acting Police Minister Firoz Cachalia said murder and most violent crimes, including rape and robbery, continued to decrease.
Murder continues to decline
Cachalia was giving a report on the crime statistics for the period between 1 October and 31 December 2025.
He said after more than a decade of annual increases, murder has been on a downward slope since the first quarter of 2023/24.
“This trend has continued throughout this year with this quarter showing an 8.7% decrease or 602 fewer lives lost,” Cachalia said.
“This means that over the past two years, the numbers of murders for the third quarter period (1 October to 31 December) had dropped by 17.6% or 1 359 fewer murders.”
Total contact crime, made up of all categories of violent crime, also started to decrease in the third quarter of 2024/25.
Violent crime figures show mixed picture
Incidents of violent crime dropped by 6.7% or 12 682 fewer cases reported to the South African Police Service (Saps) when compared to the same quarter in the previous period.
“Over the past two years, total violent crime for this quarter is down by 8.3% or 15 763 fewer cases.”
The acting minister said the trend may be attributable to enhanced policing operations.
However, despite the dips being welcome, Cachalia said the levels of crime remain “unacceptably high”.
And while most communities recorded a decrease in violent and property crimes, many other communities recorded an increase.
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“For example, while we have seen double digit reductions in murder in five provinces namely KwaZulu-Natal, Gauteng, Mpumalanga, Free State and the North West, much smaller decreases were recorded in the Western and Eastern Cape, with slight increases recorded in Limpopo and the Northern Cape,” Cachalia said.
“And out of the 30 highest murder precincts, decreases were recorded in only 15 of them.”
Police officer deaths and gang violence remain concerns
He said the killings relating to gang violence in the Eastern and Western Cape remain “worrisomely high”.
Also deeply concerning for Cachalia is the increase in the murder of police officers, with almost 80% of the 23 police officials who lost their lives being off-duty.
He said the police ministry still had a long way to go.
“But, I promise that we will not give up. By adopting a whole of government and whole of society approach, together we can make South Africa a safer place. This is a priority, and is achievable.”
National Police Commissioner General Fannie Masemola said while numbers remain high, the reduction in murder, rape and sexual offences reported is encouraging.
“This is indeed a clear demonstration that we are turning the tide, intentionally and aggressively by heightening police visibility and successfully implementing solution driven crime combatting strategies, with a view of ultimately dismantling organised crime syndicates,” Masemola said.
The police commissioner also noted that there was a reduction in “trio crimes”, which are carjacking, house and business robberies.
“While we are not out of the woods yet, these small victories and wins must serve as motivation to intensify our fight against crime.”
Confiscated and destroyed firearms
He said on Thursday, 13 859 confiscated firearms were destroyed, bring the number of destroyed firearms over the past seven years to 305 934.
Some of the firearms were linked to finalised criminal cases, such as such as farm attacks, cash-in-transit robberies and crimes against women and children.
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Others, Masemola said, were voluntarily surrendered or handed in during firearm amnesty periods.
“On a weekly basis, the Saps seizes no less than 100 illegal firearms during tracing operations, stop-and-searches, and other targeted crime combating activities,” he said.
“Just last week, nationwide operations led to the recovery of 147 illegal firearms. The previous week was 142 illegal firearms and the week before that was another 119 illegal firearms.”
Operation Shanela
Masemola also gave an overview of the arrests made through Operation Shanela during the festive season.
The operation is a crime-fighting initiative led by Saps, established to combat serious crime and specifically targeting illegal firearms, drug trafficking, illegal mining, and gender-based violence.
A total of 221 155 suspects were arrested for various crimes including murder, rape, drug possession, assault, drunk driving and house robberies, Masemola said.
In addition, 2 738 accused were convicted to time in prison between 1 October and 31 December 2025.
This includes more than 550 murderers and more than 480 rapists.
Masemola said the fight against the scourge of gender-based violence and femicide (GBVF) remains a priority for the police.
“In this regard, 631 GBVF perpetrators were convicted to time in prison.”
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