The South African Police Service (SAPS) today, 28 August 2026, released the country’s latest quarterly crime statistics during a media briefing in Hatfield, Pretoria.
The release was led by Acting Minister of Police Firoz Cachalia and covers crimes reported during the first quarter of the 2026/2027 financial year, from April to June 2026.
Although the statistics show a decrease in certain categories of crime, TLU SA says they provide no reason for complacency. In just three months, 5,427 people were murdered in South Africa.
That is almost 60 murders a day.
A total of 339,395 serious crimes were reported by communities during the quarter. This represents a decrease of 2% compared with the same period last year. Contact crime decreased by 2.3%, while the number of murders fell by 5.9%. This means that 343 fewer people were murdered than during the same quarter last year.
By contrast, attempted murder increased by 8.7% to 6,958 cases. Assault with intent to cause grievous bodily harm increased by 2.5% to 38,589 cases, while common assault rose by 2% to 42,491 cases.
For TLU SA, the release of these statistics also constitutes an assessment of the ability of the government and SAPS to protect South Africans – and the outcome remains concerning.
“Any decrease in murder is welcome because every life saved is significant. However, the government cannot present a decline of 5.9% as a victory while almost 60 people are still murdered every day and other serious violent crimes are increasing,” says Bennie van Zyl, General Manager of TLU SA.
According to Van Zyl, crime statistics must be used to assess the state’s performance and hold those responsible to account. They cannot simply be released every quarter without a clear explanation of what the government intends to do differently to prevent even more people from becoming victims during the following quarter.
“SAPS tells South Africans how many crimes have been committed, but the public seldom hears who is held accountable when policing fails, why investigations are delayed and why known crime patterns continue quarter after quarter,” Van Zyl says.
TLU SA believes the statistics confirm that SAPS currently lacks the capacity to carry out its constitutional duty to protect South Africans consistently and effectively.
The problem does not lie with individual police officers working under difficult and often dangerous circumstances. It lies with a policing system weakened by poor management, staff shortages, inadequate vehicles and equipment, ineffective crime intelligence, limited investigative capacity and a lack of accountability.
Moreover, an arrest means little if a case is not thoroughly investigated, sufficient evidence is not gathered and the offender is not successfully prosecuted.
“The government too readily measures the success of policing by operations and arrests. The true outcome must be that crime is prevented, criminals are convicted and communities are safer. If this does not happen, the current approach is not working,” Van Zyl says.
Farm attacks remain a serious threat
The situation on farms and smallholdings deserves particular attention. During August alone, up to and including 27 August, TLU SA recorded 21 farm attacks and two farm murders.
This means that, during the first 27 days of the month, a farm attack took place approximately every 31 hours on average.
These figures fall outside the quarter covered by SAPS’s latest statistics, but show that violence against rural communities continues unabated.
“Farm attacks are often extremely violent and occur far from police stations and emergency services. Victims are not only robbed, but are often seriously assaulted, tortured or murdered. Families, employees and entire communities must then live with the trauma and economic consequences,” Van Zyl says.
SAPS’s quarterly report records only one attack on a rural community between April and June 2026. The presentation also records only one murder where the location of the incident was classified as a farm.
Although the figures from SAPS and TLU SA do not cover the same period, the stark contrast raises serious questions about how farm attacks and farm murders are identified and classified at local police stations and reported nationally.
TLU SA says an incomplete picture of rural crime inevitably leads to inadequate safety planning. If incidents are not recorded consistently and correctly, crime patterns cannot be properly analysed, resources cannot be allocated appropriately and ineffective policing cannot be identified in time.
The previous National Rural Safety Strategy was signed off for implementation in October 2019. However, it was never properly managed, monitored or consistently implemented.
TLU SA’s experience at local level is that SAPS members at several police stations do not even have sufficient knowledge of the previous strategy or know what was expected of them under it.
“It serves no purpose for the previous strategy to have been approved at national level if the police stations responsible for responding to farm attacks are unaware of it. A strategy without implementation, monitoring and accountability protects no one,” Van Zyl says.
Rural communities are consequently forced to organise their own safety plans, radio networks, patrols and emergency responses. Although community co-operation is essential, it cannot serve as a substitute for a functional police service.
“The government cannot outsource its responsibility to communities and then rely on their co-operation to compensate for SAPS’s shortcomings. Crime prevention, investigation and law enforcement remain the responsibility of the state,” Van Zyl says.
Rural crime extends beyond farm attacks
Stock theft also continues to place severe pressure on producers and rural economies. Although the number of reported stock theft cases decreased by 6.7% to 5,242, SAPS’s presentation shows that 41,221 animals were stolen during the quarter.
These included 14,624 sheep, 11,729 goats and 10,690 cattle.
Stock theft harms farm income, threatens employment, increases production costs and weakens the economic sustainability of rural communities.
According to TLU SA, these figures demonstrate why rural safety cannot be treated as a separate or less urgent policing priority. Farms are workplaces, homes and production units that are essential to food security and local economic activity.
“Following this release, the government must explain what will change in practical terms, who will be responsible for implementing these changes and by when the public can expect measurable results,” Van Zyl says.
“The country does not need more statements of concern, policy documents and short-lived operations. It needs competent management, functional police stations, reliable crime intelligence, thorough investigations and genuine accountability.
“The central question remains: Where is the government’s will to combat crime genuinely and effectively? Until that will becomes evident through concrete action and safer communities, declining percentages alone will provide little comfort to the victims of crime,” Van Zyl says.
