Statement by Lisa Schickerling MP, DA Spokesperson on Police:
The Democratic Alliance (DA) calls on SAPS to release full and disaggregated GBV and child violence statistics without delay.
The latest crime statistics presented by Acting Minister of Police Firoz Cachalia raise serious concerns about accuracy, completeness and transparency, especially during the 16 Days of Activism Against Violence on Women and Children.
While the DA notes a marginal decline in murders and attempted murders, the stark reality remains that violence affecting women and vulnerable groups is increasing and key information is missing.
Even though SAPS records crimes against children none were presented. Failing to release this data is a serious omission that prevents communities and Parliament from understanding the true scale of the crisis.
SAPS data on sexual offences is inconsistent and contradictory
A major discrepancy appears between SAPS’ categories:
- SAPS “contact sexual offences” category reports only 170 to 196 cases
- SAPS rape statistics for the same period show 6 559 in Q1 and 7 204 in Q2
This inconsistency raises a critical oversight question. If SAPS reports two different sets of figures for sexual violence, which data stream should the public trust?
Small percentage drops hide extreme levels of daily violence
SAPS highlights a slight reduction in murder and attempted murder, but the real scale remains severe. During Q2 alone:
- 5 270 murders equals 58 murders per day, or 2.4 murders per hour
- 5 519 attempted murders equals 61 per day
- 7 204 rapes equals 78 rapes per day, or more than 3 every hour
- 32 854 cases of assault GBH equals 365 serious assaults per day, or 15 per hour
- 4 784 carjackings equals 52 per day
This is not a picture of communities feeling safer. It is a country experiencing constant and severe violence.
High volume violence is increasing, not decreasing
SAPS’ own numbers show:
- Rape increased by almost 10 percent
- Assault GBH increased by 5.2 percent
- Carjackings increased by 2.4 percent
This means more people are being attacked, injured or sexually violated. A slight reduction in murder does not offset the escalating violence in categories that mainly affect women and children.
SAPS acknowledges massive underreporting but fails to reflect this in the public narrative
According to the Stats SA Governance, Public Safety and Justice Survey:
- 32.5 percent of assaults are not reported
- 42.4 percent of home robberies are not reported
These are exactly the categories that dominate contact crime totals.
Given the data gaps, contradictions and omissions, how can South Africans trust any of SAPS’ reported GBV figures? Furthermore, what is the SAPS plan to fix the escalating levels of rape, assault and violence that women and children face every day?
If almost half of these contact crimes are never reported, the true scale of GBV and child violence is significantly worse than SAPS figures indicate.
This is why the DA calls for accurate crime statistics. They show where the problems are, guide where resources should go and expose failures so that action can be taken. Omitting child crime from the records leaves communities blind and vulnerable.
The DA deems this as a failure of transparency and accountability and a betrayal of the communities who are most at risk.