Despite encouraging declines in key crime categories nationally, Gauteng remains the country’s epicentre of violent organised crime, accounting for the majority of carjackings, kidnappings, and nearly half of all cash-in-transit robberies recorded in South Africa.
Releasing the fourth-quarter crime statistics for the 2025/2026 financial year, acting police minister Firoz Cachalia painted a stark picture of a province still grappling with deeply entrenched criminal networks, warning that organised syndicates remain heavily embedded in South Africa’s economic heartland.
“Gauteng remains the epicentre of several forms of violent organised crime,” Cachalia said.
“It accounts for 57.1% of all carjackings in the country, 54.8% of all kidnappings, and 48.4% of all cash-in-transit robberies.”
“These are not opportunistic crimes. They are the work of organised criminal syndicates that are highly mobile, heavily armed, and deeply embedded in our economic centres.”
The latest figures lay bare Gauteng’s troubling dual reality: while murder rates have declined, the province continues to shoulder the country’s heaviest burden of organised and economically devastating crime, reinforcing fears that criminal networks remain deeply entrenched despite ongoing policing efforts.
Although Gauteng recorded the highest number of murders nationally, Cachalia noted that the province’s murder risk remains lower than in provinces such as the Eastern Cape and Western Cape, with a murder rate of 7.1 per 100 000 people, compared to the national average of 8.2 per 100 000.
Still, he cautioned that statistics alone cannot capture the lived fear experienced by communities.
“These high-crime precincts are not just places on a map,” he said.
“They are communities where fear has become a daily companion, where women and children plan their lives around danger, and where honest residents often feel abandoned to gangs and guns.”
The figures also underscore how Gauteng’s status as South Africa’s economic hub has made it a prime target for extortion, commercial crime and organised criminal infiltration, with syndicates increasingly targeting businesses, infrastructure and service delivery systems.
“These networks do not only steal money,” Cachalia said.
“They sabotage service delivery, collapse small businesses, and rob our people of jobs and opportunities. They bleed the state and drive away investment.”
Kidnappings, which have become an increasing source of public anxiety in Gauteng in recent years, showed a slight national decrease, which the minister welcomed cautiously after a sustained upward trend.
But he raised fresh alarm over the continued rise in commercial crime, much of it linked to organised fraud and cybercrime, warning that the scale of the problem may be far greater than official statistics suggest.
“Much of this is organised crime exploiting vulnerable people and is increasingly happening online and in cyberspace,” he said.
Alcohol was also identified as a major driver of violent crime, with police linking 7 267 cases of assault, rape, attempted murder, and murder to alcohol use.
“The more alcohol we consume, the more violence we will suffer,” Cachalia warned.
Nationally, South Africa recorded a 9.5% decrease in murders and a 4.6% decline in violent contact crimes, progress Cachalia attributed to the combined efforts of law enforcement and communities. But he acknowledged that Gauteng will require far more targeted intervention if authorities are to dismantle the organised syndicates operating across the province.
As part of the government’s response, Cachalia said special attention would be given to strengthening the top 50 high-crime police stations, many of them in Gauteng, while reinvigorating community policing and exploring a new community patroller programme aimed at increasing visible safety in hotspots such as schools, clinics, and transport routes.
“We know that policing can have a substantially positive impact on community safety,” he said.
“Our goal is not just fewer crimes, but that communities are and feel safe everywhere.”
He also announced the establishment of a Police Advisory Panel, chaired by former SARS commissioner Edward Kieswetter, to help oversee what he called a bold “police reset agenda” focused on rebuilding public trust, improving intelligence capabilities, and modernising police operations.
The government’s concerns over Gauteng’s crime burden were further reinforced by Deputy Minister of Justice and Constitutional Development Andries Nel, who warned that the fight against organised crime has become central to protecting South Africa’s constitutional democracy.
“At the heart of our endeavour to fight crime is guaranteeing the constitutional rights of each and every citizen to a safe and a dignified life,” Nel said.
But he stressed that organised criminal networks now pose a far greater threat than ordinary lawlessness, particularly through their growing ability to infiltrate state institutions.
“The task of combating crime, and in particular organised crime, is, as President Cyril Ramaphosa said in this year’s State of the Nation Address, probably the most urgent task in defence of our constitutional democracy,” Nel said.
“Organised crime, and in particular through its infiltration of our security agencies, has become, in his words, the biggest threat to our constitutional democracy.”
His remarks underscore mounting concern over the extent to which organised criminal syndicates have embedded themselves not only in Gauteng’s economic centres, but within institutions meant to combat them.
Nel said the government’s response must rely on a coordinated and integrated approach across the justice and security cluster, stressing that crime prevention cannot begin only after arrests are made.
“We are here to demonstrate in person the fact that, as a justice, crime prevention and security cluster, we believe in an integrated, collaborative, cooperative approach to fighting crime,” he said.
“That criminal justice system value chain starts within the community.”
But opposition parties argue the figures reflect a deeper failure of political leadership and policing accountability.
Responding to the latest statistics, Geordin Hill-Lewis said crime should not be treated as just another policy issue, but as the country’s most urgent national priority.
“Crime cannot be treated as just another item on the national agenda. Crime should be right at the top of it,” Hill-Lewis said.
“No country can grow, no economy can create jobs, and no community can flourish while criminals operate with more confidence than law-abiding citizens.”
The party is now calling for two urgent interventions: the passing of its proposed SAPS Amendment Bill, which would allow provincial and local governments to play a greater role in policing, and immediate lifestyle audits for senior police leadership and officers in high-risk units.
“Corrupt police officials who protect criminals instead of the public must be exposed and removed from the system,” Hill-Lewis said.
Saturday Star
Anita Nkonki
iol.co.za
