South Africa recorded a 9.5% decrease in murders during the fourth quarter of the 2025/26 financial year, with 546 fewer people killed compared with the same period a year earlier, Police Minister Firoz Cachalia announced on Friday, May 22.
Presenting crime statistics for the period January 1 to March 31, 2026, Cachalia said murders declined from 5 727 in the corresponding quarter of the previous year to 5 181.
Compared with the same quarter in 2024, murders fell by 1 355 cases, representing a 20.7% reduction.
โMost strikingly, murder has decreased nationally by 9.5%,โ Cachalia said, describing the figure as the countryโs most reliable crime indicator.
The decline formed part of a broader reduction in serious violent crime. Contact crimes, which include offences involving direct contact between perpetrators and victims, decreased by 4.6%, with 7 405 fewer cases reported than in the same quarter last year.
Cachalia highlighted significant reductions in aggravated robbery categories. House robberies fell by 20.4%, business robberies by 18.3%, and robberies at non-residential premises by 22%.
Property-related crimes, including burglary and theft of and from motor vehicles, declined by 8.5%, while other serious crimes such as general theft and shoplifting dropped by 4.2%.
The Minister attributed the improvements in part to the efforts of police officers and communities working together to combat crime.
Despite the gains, Cachalia cautioned that crime levels remain unacceptably high.
South Africa recorded an average of 58 murders a day during the quarter.
โA decrease in crime is not the same as achieving safety,โ he said. โOur goal is not just fewer crimes, but that communities are and feel safe everywhere.โ
The statistics showed that Gauteng, the Western Cape, Eastern Cape and KwaZulu-Natal all recorded notable decreases in murders. However, those four provinces still accounted for more than 80% of all murders nationally.
The Minister said government would continue implementing its police reform agenda, strengthen efforts against organised crime and expand violence-prevention initiatives aimed at addressing the social factors driving violent crime.
โThese statistics provide us with guidance,โ Cachalia said. โOur task is to transform this decline in violent crime into a sustained, long-term reduction in violence and organised criminality across the country.
