Facts in Q&A format

The police recorded 21,341 murders in 2019/20. The murder rate  – calculated based on the national mid-year population estimates (59.6 million in 2020)  – was 35.8 per 100,000 people in 2019/20, a 1.7% decrease from the rate in 2018/19 which was 36.4 per 100,000 people.   ...

In 2019/20, a total of 53,776 sexual offences were recorded by the police – a 2.6% increase from 52,420 in 2018/19.  ...

The crime detection rate indicates “the successful investigation, positive identification, arrest and charging of the perpetrator”. The detection process covers the period from when a police docket is opened until a suspect has been arrested and charged, or until the docket is closed as unfou...

There is one police officer – excluding administrative staff – for every 405 people. The ratio is based on Statistics South Africa's mid-year population estimates (59.6 million in 2020) and the number of non-administrative police (147,070) given in the South African Police Service's 2019/20 annu...

The South African Police Service's Annual Report recorded 21,341 murders in 2019/20. Of those victims, 2,695 were women and 17,703 were men. This works out to an average of 7 women and 48 men murdered per day in South Africa. ...

According to the Department of Social Development, more people contacted the Gender-Based Violence Command Centre during the first two months of South Africa’s Covid-19 lockdown.  The government established the call centre to “provide immediate care, support and counselling to victims of...

An estimated 12.5 out of every 100,000 women and girls were killed in South Africa in 2016. This internationally comparable rate for deaths from interpersonal violence was almost five times the global average of 2.6.   More: Five facts: Femicide in South Africa ...

On 18 September 2018, the South African Constitutional Court decriminalised the use and cultivation of cannabis in a private space. Even though private use of cannabis has been decriminalised – the buying and selling of cannabis, cannabis oil and cannabis seeds remains illegal. The ...

In 2019/20, a recorded 392 people died as a result of police action. In the 2018/19 financial year, the number was 393. The Independent Police Investigative Directorate defines death as a result of police action as the death of any person caused or believed to have been caused by a member of the ...