PRETORIA, Gauteng — A newly released Governance, Public Safety and Justice Survey by Statistics South Africa (Stats SA) has laid bare a profound crisis of confidence in the South African Police Service (SAPS), revealing that a high degree of public mistrust is driving a significant decline in formal crime reporting. The comprehensive statistics provide a clearer picture of crime from the perspective of ordinary South Africans, highlighting that more than half of all criminal incidents go unreported by households.
According to the latest data, the fear of crime remains pervasive across the country. While 80.7% of South Africans report feeling safe walking during the day, that number plummets to 37.9% after dark. Women are disproportionately affected, expressing even higher levels of fear when alone at night. The survey also noted that housebreaking has affected more than a million households, yet only about 48% of these incidents are formally reported to the police. Furthermore, the data recorded an increase in people experiencing assaults, with figures noted in the hundreds of thousands, and highlighted that intimate partners account for a much larger share of assaults against women than against men.
Juanita Du Preez, Chief Operating Officer of Action Society, emphasized that these findings reflect the lived reality of citizens rather than mere perception. Du Preez noted that it is alarming that in 2026, citizens feel compelled to take their own protection into their hands. “More than half of South Africans say they have taken steps to protect themselves from crime,” Du Preez stated, questioning why this is necessary when taxpayers fund a police service whose primary mandate is to protect the public.
The breakdown of why victims choose not to report crimes points to a systemic failure in the criminal justice system. Du Preez explained that citizens feel the process is ultimately pointless: they endure the trauma of going to the police station, opening a docket, and reliving the incident, only for no one to be caught or brought to court. While some previously reported crimes solely to obtain a case number for insurance claims, the lack of tangible justice has led to widespread apathy toward formal reporting, especially for those without insurance.
This institutional distrust is strongly echoed in recent public polling. When asked what would stop them from reporting a crime, 86% of respondents cited a lack of trust in the police as the primary reason. Additional deterrents included fear of retaliation (7%), the belief that the reporting process takes too long (6%), and the perception that the incident was not serious enough to warrant reporting (1%).
Du Preez also raised urgent concerns regarding Gender-Based Violence (GBV). Despite GBV being declared a national disaster in December of the previous year, official crime statistics continue to omit specific, detailed data on crimes against women and children. This lack of transparency makes it impossible to measure whether government intervention and prevention efforts are actually effective. “Declaring something a national disaster and not doing anything practically is not going to make the problem go away,” Du Preez noted.
Addressing the way forward, Du Preez urged the public to continue reporting crimes to prevent official statistics from presenting a skewed, overly optimistic picture of safety, which could trick the government into believing areas are safer than they truly are. However, she stressed that the state must fundamentally shift its approach to rebuild public confidence.
Action Society advocates for resources to be allocated locally, ensuring that police accountability is tied directly to the communities they serve. Du Preez pointed to concentrated resource campaigns in the Western Cape, such as localized station initiatives and Operation Prosper, as evidence that visible, preventative policing yields better results than a “one-size-fits-all” national approach.
The survey underscores an urgent need for practical, measurable action from policymakers. As public sentiment increasingly favors community-based protection and private security over traditional policing, the pressure mounts on the South African Police Service to rebuild trust, ensure visible deterrence, and deliver on its constitutional mandate to keep all citizens safe.
