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Rape and sexual assault are on the rise in the Western Cape despite an overall decline in violent crime, with more than 1,100 rapes reported in the province in just three months.
The figures have prompted Western Cape police commissioner Lt-Gen Sizakhele Dyantyi to raise concerns about persistent violence against women and children and pledge intensified interventions to combat gender-based violence.
Presenting the province’s crime statistics for the first quarter of the 2026/27 financial year on Tuesday, Dyantyi said rape increased by 3.8% and sexual assault by 5.7% compared with the same period last year.
Between April and June this year, 1,106 rapes were reported in the Western Cape, up from 1,066 during the corresponding period in 2025. Sexual assault cases increased from 316 to 334.
There were, however, decreases in other sexual offence categories. Attempted sexual offences dropped from 100 to 65, while contact sexual offences decreased from 57 to 31.
Dyantyi said the scourge of crimes against women and children continued to afflict communities across the province.
“Gender-based violence remains a top priority, and SAPS will continue to strengthen its response to crimes committed against women and children,” he said.
The statistics also show that at least six rape cases were recorded on educational premises during the three months.
One was recorded at a daycare centre, crèche, nursery school or preschool, four occurred at schools, and one was recorded at a tertiary education facility.
According to the police data, in the case involving an early childhood development facility, the alleged perpetrator was an acquaintance and the victim a learner.
In the school cases, both the alleged perpetrators and victims were learners, while the rape recorded at student accommodation involved a student as both the alleged perpetrator and victim.
Gender-based violence remains a top priority, and SAPS will continue to strengthen its response to crimes committed against women and children
— Lt-Gen Sizakhele Dyantyi, Western Cape police commissioner
The increase in rape and sexual assault comes despite notable declines in several major violent crime categories across the province.
Contact crime decreased by 6.3%, while murder declined by 6.7%. Carjackings dropped by 14.6%, and robberies at residential premises fell by 15%.
Dyantyi said Mfuleni, Delft, Mitchells Plain, Gugulethu, Nyanga, Kraaifontein and Philippi East remained among the province’s leading police stations for murder and attempted murder.
Police also recorded sharper declines at stations targeted under Operation Prosper, an intervention focused on high-crime areas.
Contact crime at Operation Prosper stations declined by 12.1%, while murder fell by 16.8%.
Dyantyi welcomed the overall improvement but cautioned that crime statistics were more than numbers. He said the figures were used to measure police performance, identify emerging crime trends and determine whether policing interventions needed to be adjusted.
He attributed the reductions to SAPS members working on the ground and acknowledged the contribution of his predecessor, Lt-Gen Thembisile Patekile, who led Western Cape police during the period covered by the statistics.
The release of the provincial statistics coincided with the first day of the Annual National GBV Shelter Indaba, where the National Shelter Movement of South Africa (NSMSA) warned that the latest crime figures reflected the continuing scale of the country’s gender-based violence and femicide crisis.
Nationally, 559 women were murdered, and 9,201 rapes were reported during the first quarter.
The organisation cautioned that the true extent of sexual violence was likely to be considerably higher because many survivors do not report abuse.
Of 6,596 rape cases sampled by police, 4,121 occurred at a residence.
The NSMSA said the pressures facing shelters for survivors of gender-based violence could not be separated from the wider GBV crisis.
“The crisis facing the country’s shelters that provide GBV victim support is therefore not separate from the broader GBVF crisis; it is part of it,” the organisation said.
It said shelters were battling delays in state subsidy payments, inadequate infrastructure and shortages of specialised psychosocial and other support services.
“These pressures affect their ability to provide consistent, quality services and in some cases, mean that women and children in desperate need of emergency accommodation cannot be accommodated.”
The organisation said strengthening the country’s response to gender-based violence required not only effective policing and prosecution but also adequately resourced services capable of supporting survivors seeking safety.
Yoliswa Sobuwa
www.timeslive.co.za