CRIME STATS | Four provinces contribute to top 30 contact crime police stations

Four of South Africa's nine provinces are home to the top 30 police stations with the highest contact crime figures recorded in the second quarter of the 2023-2024 financial year.

Gauteng leads the pack with 13 stations included in the list, followed by KwaZulu-Natal and the Western Cape, which each have eight, and Limpopo fourth with one station in the top 30.

This was revealed by Maj-Gen Norman Sekhukhune, who presented the second quarter crime statistics to parliament's portfolio committee on police on Friday.

The briefing was led by police minister Bheki Cele and commissioner Gen Fannie Masemola.

Gauteng had the highest number of contact crimes reported to police between July and September 2023, registering 46,251 cases out of the 165,909 national total. It was followed by the Western Cape with 28,806 and KwaZulu-Natal with 28,030. 

The lowest number of cases was in the Northern Cape, with 4,811 cases reported over the three months.

Contact crimes refer to those against a person and include murder, rape, trio crimes, cash-in-transit heists and truck hijackings.

“Of the nine provinces, only two recorded decreases. That is the Eastern Cape, which recorded 321 fewer cases, and Limpopo, which recorded 41 fewer cases. All the other provinces recorded increases,” Sekhukhune said.

In the top 30 police stations contributing the highest contact crime figures, Nyanga took the top spot, edging out Joburg Central from its spot in the first quarter.

This despite the station registering a 0.3% decrease between July and September 2023. This means 1,074 contact crime cases were registered at the station, three fewer than the 1,077 a year before.

Joburg Central came in second, registering one less case from the 1,043 during the same period last year.

The top 30 list was littered with troubled stations in Gauteng, KwaZulu-Natal and the Western Cape, with Thohoyandou in Limpopo making the cut at 29. 

“Four [provinces] are contributing to the top 30 contact crime [police] stations,” Sekhukhune said.

Gauteng registered the highest number of murder cases between July and September 2023. It was followed by KwaZulu-Natal, which saw a decline to 1,603 from 1,857 during the same period last year. The Eastern Cape had the third-highest number of murder cases, but saw a decline of only one from 1,313 in 2022. 

Again, as with the overall contact crimes category, 30 police stations from four provinces contributed to the list. The only different province in this section was the Eastern Cape.

Twelve Western Cape police stations made the cut, KwaZulu-Natal came in with seven, Gauteng had six stations and the Eastern Cape had five stations featured in the undesirable list.

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