Crime stats: Gauteng records most murders and carjackings in South Africa.
Image: Ai-Generated
South Africa's latest quarterly crime statistics have revealed that Gauteng, KwaZulu-Natal, the Eastern Cape and the Western Cape continue to bear the brunt of the country's most serious violent crimes, with Gauteng recording the highest number of murders and carjackings, while KwaZulu-Natal reported the most rape cases.
On Friday August 28, the South African Police Service (SAPS) released its crime statistics for the first quarter of the 2026/27 financial year, covering crimes reported between April and June 2026.
While murders, rapes and carjackings all declined nationally compared with the same period last year, thousands of South Africans continued to fall victim to violent crime.
Although the national murder count fell by 5.9%, from 5,770 to 5,427 cases, Gauteng recorded the highest number of murders in the country with 1,276 cases during the three-month period.
KwaZulu-Natal followed with 1,179 murders, while the Western Cape recorded 1,071 and the Eastern Cape 1,047.
The provinces with the lowest murder counts were:
Nationally, Gauteng accounted for nearly a quarter of all murders reported in South Africa during the quarter.
When measured against population size, the picture changes significantly.
The Eastern Cape recorded the highest murder rate in the country at 15.8 murders per 100,000 people, followed by:
Limpopo recorded the country's lowest murder rate at just 2.6 per 100,000 people.
SAPS recorded 9,201 rape cases nationally during the quarter, a slight decline of 32 cases compared with the same period last year.
KwaZulu-Natal recorded the highest number of rape cases with 1,820, followed by:
The provinces with the fewest reported rape cases were:
KwaZulu-Natal alone accounted for almost one in every five rape cases reported nationally.
Per capita figures show the Eastern Cape has the country's highest rape rate at 22.3 cases per 100,000 people.
It is followed by:
Gauteng recorded the lowest rape rate among the major provinces at 9.6 per 100,000 people, despite reporting the second-highest number of rape cases overall because of its much larger population.
Carjacking declined by 18.2% nationally, falling from 4,657 to 3,811 incidents.
Despite the decline, Gauteng remained overwhelmingly the country's carjacking capital, recording 2,207 incidents, more than half of all carjackings reported nationwide.
The provincial breakdown was:
Gauteng accounted for 57.9% of all reported carjackings in South Africa during the quarter.
The statistics show that Gauteng, KwaZulu-Natal, the Western Cape and the Eastern Cape continue to account for the overwhelming majority of South Africa's most serious violent crimes.
While SAPS reported encouraging declines in several major crime categories including murder, rape, robbery with aggravating circumstances and carjacking, the figures indicate that violent crime remains heavily concentrated in these four provinces, which together recorded the highest volumes of offences during the first three months of the financial year.
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