Victims of Crime Survey results released by Statistics South Africa recently indicate that aggregate crime levels in the period 2017/18 increased as compared to 2016/17.
It is estimated that over 1,5 million incidences of household crime occurred in South Africa in 2017/18, an increase of 5 per centcompared to the previous year.
Incidences of crime on individuals are estimated to be over 1,6 million, an increase of 5 per cent from the previous year.
According to the report, aggregate household crime levels increased in Free State, KwaZulu-Natal, North West, Gauteng, and Mpumalanga.
Individual crime levels increased in Free State, North West and Gauteng. North West experienced a drastic increase of 80 per cent in individual crime level.
More provinces experienced an increase in household and individual crime levels if comparisons were done using proportions instead of absolute numbers.
Housebreaking or burglary continued to be the dominant type of crime in 2017/18 accounting for 54 per cent of all household crimes surveyed in VOCS.
An estimated 832 122 incidences of housebreaking occurred, a 7 per cent increase compared to the previous year.
An estimated 156 089 incidences of home robbery occurred, an increase of 3 per cent from last year.
It is estimated that 16 809 incidences of murder occurred in 2017/18 which is an increase of about 4 per cent from the previous year.
In the case of individual crimes, theft of personal property was the most dominant accounting for about 41 per cent of individual crimes.
It is estimated that 693 219 incidences of theft of personal property occurred in 2017/18, a decrease of 2 per cent from the previous year. Robbery away from home decreased by 5 per cent, while sexual offence decreased by 61 per cent and assault increased by 12 per cent from the previous year.
- Perceptions
According to the report, perceptions of South Africans on crime in 2017/18 were more skeptical compared to the previous year.
About 42 per cent thought property crime increased during the past three years. This is an increase of 6,9 per cet from the previous year.
Those who thought violent crime increased during the past three years were 46 per cent, an increase of 4,5 per cent over the previous year.
About 32 per cent of South Africans felt safe walking alone in their neighbourhoods at night, an increase of 8 per cent from last year.
The full report is available on the Statistics South Africa website: www.statssa.gov.za
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