SAFER PUBLIC SPACES NEED MORE THAN A WARNING TO “BE CAREFUL”, SAYS FIDELITY SERVICES GROUP

Stats SA data shows crime may be easing but fewer than four in 10 South Africans feel safe walking alone after dark

**JOHANNESBURG, 22 September: **Crime statistics may be improving but South Africans are not letting their guard down. Stats SA’s latest Victims of Crime data for 2025/26 shows that while several crime categories have declined only 37.9% of people aged 16 and older feel safe walking alone in their neighbourhood after dark, compared with 80.7% during the day.

The survey also shows that 46.6% of people have taken steps to protect themselves, up from 43.3% the previous year. Housebreaking remains the most common household crime affecting about 1.08 million households with an estimated 1.5 million incidents. Fewer than half of these households (48.2%) reported the crime to police.

In the wake of recent attacks on women in South Africa, Fidelity Services Group says the conversation must move beyond telling individuals to be careful and ask what responsibility the people and organisations managing public spaces carry for making them safer.

“Advising women to be more vigilant places the burden on the person with the least control over the environment,” says Charnel Hattingh, Group Head of Marketing and Communications at Fidelity Services Group. “Whether a walkway, parking area, taxi rank or shopping centre is safe depends largely on decisions made by the people who own and manage it. That is where responsibility must be.”

The data suggests the risk in public spaces is not always visible to those responsible for them. Street robbery was the second most common crime experienced by individuals affecting 459,000 people in 2025/26, yet only 41.7% reported it to police. Underreporting can leave managers of public spaces without a full picture of where and when people are at risk.

“Responsibility starts with the basics,” says Hattingh. “Controlled access points, working CCTV and visible, trained security personnel all deter crime. So does making it simple and safe for people to report an incident or call for help. A crime that goes unreported is a risk that goes unaddressed.”

Safety also needs to follow people home. For many, the walk from the car or taxi to the front door after dark is a moment of real concern. Fidelity ADT Home Security offers a range of solutions for this reality including SecureMe, SecureMe Plus, SecureWatch, SecureHome and SecureConnect.

SecureMe is a compact, portable panic device that pinpoints a person’s exact location when they need help, with Fidelity ADT aiming to respond within 15 minutes. For homes SecureHome lets residents check their alarm status, arm or disarm it and receive alerts from anywhere while SecureConnect adds smart home control and video verification allowing homeowners to see what is happening at their property before they arrive.

“Crime statistics may be moving in the right direction, but people’s sense of safety has not caught up and that gap matters,” says Hattingh. “Feeling safe is built through consistent, visible action whether that is a well-managed public space or a monitored home. Solutions like SecureMe and SecureConnect give people control and a direct line to help, but they work best when the spaces around them are doing their part too.”

Fidelity Services Group encourages property owners, precinct managers, retailers, transport operators, employers and local authorities to review lighting, access control, monitoring and incident reporting at the spaces they manage and to work with security partners and communities to close the gap between how safe South Africans are and how safe they feel.