{"id":43439,"date":"2025-11-29T12:34:26","date_gmt":"2025-11-29T12:34:26","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/eduzim.co.zw\/news\/?p=43439"},"modified":"2025-11-29T12:34:26","modified_gmt":"2025-11-29T12:34:26","slug":"the-most-dangerous-province-in-south-africa","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/eduzim.co.zw\/news\/2025\/11\/29\/the-most-dangerous-province-in-south-africa\/","title":{"rendered":"The most dangerous province in South Africa \u2013 Newsday"},"content":{"rendered":"<p> <script data-jetpack-boost=\"ignore\" async src=\"https:\/\/pagead2.googlesyndication.com\/pagead\/js\/adsbygoogle.js?client=ca-pub-1669381584671856\"\r\n     crossorigin=\"anonymous\"><\/script>\r\n<!-- Africa tv video display -->\r\n<ins class=\"adsbygoogle\"\r\n     style=\"display:block\"\r\n     data-ad-client=\"ca-pub-1669381584671856\"\r\n     data-ad-slot=\"3579572842\"\r\n     data-ad-format=\"auto\"\r\n     data-full-width-responsive=\"true\"><\/ins>\r\n<script data-jetpack-boost=\"ignore\">\r\n     (adsbygoogle = window.adsbygoogle || []).push({});\r\n<\/script><br \/>\n<\/p>\n<div>\n<p>The release of South Africa\u2019s crime stats for the second quarter of the 2025\/26 financial year has revealed that the Western Cape is the most dangerous of the country\u2019s nine provinces.<\/p>\n<p>This is according to the ratio of murders per 100,000 people across the first two quarters of the 2025\/26 financial year, from April to September.<\/p>\n<p>While Gauteng recorded the most murders in the country at 2,872, the Western Cape\u2019s 2,308 incidents relative to its population of just over 7 million means the murder rate is 31.26.<\/p>\n<p>Population statistics used were from the Department of Water and Sanitation\u2019s figures from April 2025.<\/p>\n<p>The Eastern Cape recorded the second-highest number of murders per 100,000 people at 30.14.<\/p>\n<p>At the national level, there were 11,564 murders across the two quarters, resulting in a rate of 18.65.<\/p>\n<p>Only the Western Cape and Northern Cape recorded an increase in murders relative to the first quarter.<\/p>\n<p>Similar to the murder statistics, Gauteng has recorded the most contact crimes at 79,412 this year so far.<\/p>\n<p>These include murder, sexual offences, attempted murder, assault with intent to inflict grievous bodily harm, common assault, common robbery, and robbery with aggravating circumstances.<\/p>\n<p>However, it should be noted that crime, especially sexual offences, is largely underreported, meaning that these figures are most likely significantly higher.<\/p>\n<p>The Western Cape\u2019s 54,571 contact crimes yields a ratio of 734 crimes per 100,000 people compared to Gauteng\u2019s 491, the Eastern Cape\u2019s 453, and KwaZulu-Natal\u2019s 433.<\/p>\n<p>The Western Cape and Northern Cape were also the only two provinces to notice an increase in contact crimes in the second quarter of the year.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI want you to know that I understand and respect your worries about the lack of security,\u201d Chachalia said during the briefing.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cImportantly, we are seeing ongoing and significant reductions in serious and violent crime, but at a high level. Murder has started to decrease significantly\u2026 and that is often a very good indicator of crime trends.\u201d<\/p>\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">\u2018Crime stats cannot be taken seriously\u2019<\/h2>\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-full\"><img data-recalc-dims=\"1\" loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"640\" height=\"360\" src=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/eduzim.co.zw\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/11\/The-most-dangerous-province-in-South-Africa-%E2%80%93-Newsday.jpg?resize=640%2C360&#038;ssl=1\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-467\" srcset=\"https:\/\/eduzim.co.zw\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/11\/The-most-dangerous-province-in-South-Africa-\u2013-Newsday.jpg 1200w, https:\/\/newsday.co.za\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/07\/SAPS-crime-police-300x169.jpg 300w, https:\/\/newsday.co.za\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/07\/SAPS-crime-police-768x432.jpg 768w, https:\/\/newsday.co.za\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/07\/SAPS-crime-police-600x338.jpg 600w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1200px) 100vw, 1200px\"\/><\/figure>\n<p>Despite these trends, Freedom Front Plus (VF+) spokesperson on police, Wouter Wessels, said that South Africans should approach the statistics with cautious optimism.<\/p>\n<p>He argued that the statistics released by Cachalia are most likely not the full picture, citing Statistics South Africa\u2019s Victims of Crime Survey that shows massive underreporting of crime, especially sexual offences.<\/p>\n<p>Wessels highlighted a recent report by the Institute for Security Studies, which shows that only 22% of South Africans trust the police.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cPublic confidence in the police will undoubtedly plummet further as information is divulged to the Madlanga Commission and the parliamentary ad hoc committee,\u201d Wessels argued.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThe various police divisions face major challenges, particularly due to budget constraints, staff shortages, poor resources, lack of expertise in specialised fields, work overload and low morale.\u201d<\/p>\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Wave of violence in the Western Cape<\/h2>\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-full\"><img data-recalc-dims=\"1\" loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"640\" height=\"360\" src=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/eduzim.co.zw\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/11\/1764419663_71_The-most-dangerous-province-in-South-Africa-%E2%80%93-Newsday.jpg?resize=640%2C360&#038;ssl=1\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-3532\" srcset=\"https:\/\/eduzim.co.zw\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/11\/1764419663_71_The-most-dangerous-province-in-South-Africa-\u2013-Newsday.jpg 1200w, https:\/\/newsday.co.za\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/thembisile-patekile-300x169.jpg 300w, https:\/\/newsday.co.za\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/thembisile-patekile-768x432.jpg 768w, https:\/\/newsday.co.za\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/thembisile-patekile-600x338.jpg 600w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1200px) 100vw, 1200px\"\/><figcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\">Thembisile Patekile, Western Cape Police Commissioner<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>While the accuracy of the statistics is being called into question, one thing that it does correctly identify is the increase of violent crime, especially murder, in the Western Cape.<\/p>\n<p>In early November, more than 30 people were murdered in the span of a few days in Cape Town, calling into question whether the police have sufficient resources to tackle the ongoing violence.<\/p>\n<p>While the South African Police Service in the province claimed that they had the situation under control, communities begged to differ, with several innocent civilians literally being caught in the crossfire of gang and taxi violence.<\/p>\n<p>In one case, two women were killed and another eight people were injured at a taxi rank in Nyanga after taxi owners were ambushed and shot at.<\/p>\n<p>The victims were seated inside a minibus taxi when the shooting took place and were caught in the crossfire.<\/p>\n<div class=\"text-center border p-3 bg-light mt-4 rounded\">You have read 1 out of 5 free articles. Log in or register for unlimited access.<\/div>\n<p>                        <!-- Share Data Setup for JavaScript --><\/p><\/div>\n<p><script data-jetpack-boost=\"ignore\" async src=\"https:\/\/pagead2.googlesyndication.com\/pagead\/js\/adsbygoogle.js?client=ca-pub-1669381584671856\"\r\n     crossorigin=\"anonymous\"><\/script>\r\n<!-- Africa tv video display -->\r\n<ins class=\"adsbygoogle\"\r\n     style=\"display:block\"\r\n     data-ad-client=\"ca-pub-1669381584671856\"\r\n     data-ad-slot=\"3579572842\"\r\n     data-ad-format=\"auto\"\r\n     data-full-width-responsive=\"true\"><\/ins>\r\n<script data-jetpack-boost=\"ignore\">\r\n     (adsbygoogle = window.adsbygoogle || []).push({});\r\n<\/script><br \/>\n#dangerous #province #South #Africa #Newsday<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The release of South Africa\u2019s crime stats for the second quarter of the 2025\/26 financial year has revealed that the&hellip;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":43440,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[32],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-43439","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-mzansi"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/eduzim.co.zw\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/43439","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/eduzim.co.zw\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/eduzim.co.zw\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/eduzim.co.zw\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/eduzim.co.zw\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=43439"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/eduzim.co.zw\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/43439\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":43441,"href":"https:\/\/eduzim.co.zw\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/43439\/revisions\/43441"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/eduzim.co.zw\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/43440"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/eduzim.co.zw\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=43439"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/eduzim.co.zw\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=43439"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/eduzim.co.zw\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=43439"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}