Last week, Police Minister Firoz Cachalia released the latest crime statistics, which showed that a number of crime categories, including murder, have decreased in the country.
At face value, it looks like a good thing. But as Cachalia warned while releasing the crime statistics for the first quarter of 2026, violent crime remains worryingly high. Even more worrying is how Gauteng has become the hotbed of organised crime. The province alone accounts for 57.1% of all carjackings, 48.4% of all cash-in-transit robberies and 54.8% of all kidnappings in the country. Not too long ago, Gauteng - whose official car registration plate is "GP"- earned the moniker "Gangster's Paradise". It looks like the province is living up to its infamous reputation.
While the official crime statistics show a decline in some categories, there is nothing on the ground that suggests crime is dissipating. So what could it be? Could it be that South Africans have decided that crime is too rampant, so they are not bothering to report it?
I'm one of those convinced that people report crime merely for insurance purposes - for instance, in cases where their homes or businesses are robbed. Other than that, there doesn't seem to be any inclination to report crime because the chances of it being resolved are close to zero. Police management has admitted to Parliament that some investigators are sitting with more than 100 cases each.
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So, what chance does one have of having a crime they report resolved?
A closer look at the statistics shows a rather depressing and scary thing. Just by looking at Johannesburg alone, as our "Joburg by Numbers" graphic - by The Outlier - shows below, organised criminals seem to be targeting Johannesburg, as the number of kidnappings has grown more than 500% over the past five years--from 199 cases in 2021 to over 971 this year.
When you drill further into these statistics, you realise that we had an average of 11 kidnappings a day reported in Johannesburg in the first three months of 2026.
This is shocking and alarming, and it tells you that something is seriously wrong in our city.
Another thing is that crime statistics reflect only the cases that are reported to the police. They do not speak of the conviction rate of the police or of the cases that go unreported.
Instead of being relieved at the latest statistics, I'm even more fearful. The thugs have merely gotten smarter and more organised. They seem to have the upper hand.
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-Ngalwa is the Editor-in-Chief of Our City News
