What does this national trends page show?

Change in total reported serious crimes vs Apr–Dec 2024, aggregated across all 1168 South African Police Service precincts. Counts are raw — not adjusted for population. Each province's trends page provides the same view scoped to that province's precincts.

South African Crime Trends

Name: South African Crime Trends — National Overview
Creator: South African Police Service (SAPS)
License: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/

Source: South African Police Service (SAPS)Last updated 2026-03-18

Across South Africa's 1168 police precincts in 9 provinces, 594 reported less crime than the previous year, 159 were stable, and 417 reported more crime. Based on SAPS quarterly statistics for 2025-2026 vs 2024-2025.

1168

Precincts tracked

594

Improved

417

Worsened

159

Stable

Province comparison

Western Cape

54 improved83 worsened

152 precincts

Violent crime

85,524

Property crime

36,985

Avg trend

+4.6%

Gauteng

77 improved30 worsened

146 precincts

Violent crime

123,592

Property crime

54,031

Avg trend

-2.7%

KwaZulu-Natal

86 improved70 worsened

184 precincts

Violent crime

83,806

Property crime

37,532

Avg trend

-2%

Eastern Cape

85 improved89 worsened

200 precincts

Violent crime

51,264

Property crime

27,339

Avg trend

+1.4%

Limpopo

63 improved29 worsened

106 precincts

Violent crime

27,876

Property crime

15,554

Avg trend

-5%

Mpumalanga

74 improved13 worsened

90 precincts

Violent crime

25,625

Property crime

14,143

Avg trend

-8.5%

North West

43 improved34 worsened

86 precincts

Violent crime

32,189

Property crime

16,328

Avg trend

-0.3%

Free State

66 improved29 worsened

112 precincts

Violent crime

29,755

Property crime

14,992

Avg trend

-4.8%

Northern Cape

46 improved40 worsened

92 precincts

Violent crime

14,376

Property crime

7,348

Avg trend

+3.6%

Top 5 most improved nationally

Sebayeng

Limpopo · 520 crimes

-30.8% 2

Gingindlovu

KwaZulu-Natal · 518 crimes

-27.2% 3

Springbok

Northern Cape · 535 crimes

-25.3% 4

Umbilo

KwaZulu-Natal · 1,720 crimes

-23.8% 5

Tubatse

Limpopo · 1,002 crimes

-23.7%

Top 5 biggest concerns nationally

Franschhoek

Western Cape · 753 crimes

+40% 2

Dysselsdorp

Western Cape · 643 crimes

+36.5% 3

Kwanokuthula

Western Cape · 754 crimes

+31% 4

Stutterheim

Eastern Cape · 1,122 crimes

+29.4% 5

Makhaza

Western Cape · 2,393 crimes

+28.5%

Explore province trends

Drill into each province for full precinct-by-precinct tables, district filtering, and 5-year baseline comparisons.

Western Cape Trends

152 precincts · 6 districts

Gauteng Trends

146 precincts · 5 districts

KwaZulu-Natal Trends

184 precincts · 11 districts

Eastern Cape Trends

200 precincts · 8 districts

Limpopo Trends

106 precincts · 5 districts

Mpumalanga Trends

90 precincts · 3 districts

North West Trends

86 precincts · 4 districts

Free State Trends

112 precincts · 5 districts

Northern Cape Trends

92 precincts · 5 districts

About this data

This page presents an overview of crime trends across 1168 South African police precincts in Western Cape, Gauteng, KwaZulu-Natal, Eastern Cape, Limpopo, Mpumalanga, North West, Free State, and Northern Cape. Data is sourced directly from quarterly SAPS crime statistics releases, covering over a decade of reported crime data.

Comparisons use the same number of quarters to ensure accuracy. Precincts with fewer than 500 reported crimes are excluded from the "top movers" lists to avoid misleading percentage swings from precincts with low crime counts.