StatsSA released a survey gauging the public's perception of safety in their areas as well as their reluctance to report crime.
Statistics South Africa has found the public has a growing lack of faith in the nation’s police.
At least half of victims of certain crimes were likely to not report incidents at all, while less than 40% of South Africans considered the police the best placed to respond to a crime.
Overall figures showed that almost 1.5 million households had a member who had experienced some form of crime in the 2024/25 financial year.
Half of thefts unreported
The Governance, Public Safety and Governance and Justice (GPSGJ) survey was released on Tuesday, which compiled public sentiment around crime experiences.
Housebreakings and home robberies accounted for 86% of the crimes mentioned in the survey, with the figure representing 5.7% of all households in the country.
The survey showed that 63.6% of theft victims did not report the incident, an increase from 55.8% in the previous financial year.
53.2% of the victims said they did not report the incidents because they felt police would not or could not assist.
A further 8% did not report the crime as they either did not trust or were fearful of police.
These stats were based on 1.3 million incidents of theft involving 1.16 million victims.
Additionally, 65% of robbery victims did not report their ordeals for the same reasons listed above.
For those who witnessed a crime, only 39.6% stated that calling the police was their preferred option, down from 43.8% last year.
ABOVE: A graph showing the number of robbery victims who reported their ordeals. Picture: StatsSA
Safety perceptions
When expressing their feelings of safety in their own neighbourhoods, 81% of respondents over 16 said they felt safe walking the streets during the day.
However, that number dropped sharply to 36.1% when asked about walking the streets at night.
The survey showed that South Africans were increasingly afraid of their streets at night, as the number of those feeling safe after dark stood at 39.6% in 2020/21.
When focusing on women, 66.2% said they felt either a little or very unsafe when walking the streets of their own neighbourhoods at night.
For those defending themselves, only 9.3% carried some form of protection such as a knife, gun, pepper spray or panic button.
However, 35.9% invested in home security such as burglar bars or armed response, with almost 80% of people feeling safer after having taken some measures to protect themselves.
Unfortunately, 17% of male and female respondents said they were unable to protect themselves due to a lack of resources, while another 26% felt they had no means to protect themselves.
Crime a ‘defining challenge’
Statistician General Risenga Maluleke said StatsSA’s survey was not a substitute for the South African Police Service (SAPS)’s official crime stats but was based on public experiences.
“GPSJS can provide estimates of the prevalence and incidence of crime, while SAPS statistics provide the total number of reported cases,” the survey stated.
“Such information is indispensable in the monitoring of development goals.”
“Crime remains one of the defining challenges of life in South Africa, cutting across geography, gender and economic status,” Stats SA concluded.
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