An alarming 1.5 million housebreakings occurred in South Africa during the 2023/24 period, impacting about 1.1 million households, according to Statistics South Africa (Stats SA). This represents 5.9% of all households, with 44.1% reporting these incidents to the police. Additionally, there were approximately 263,000 home robberies affecting 209,000 households, with 57.6% reporting these crimes.

Individual crime data reveals that theft of personal property was the most prevalent, with 1.4 million incidents affecting 1.3 million individuals aged 16 and older. A street robbery followed, impacting 443,000 people with around 497,000 incidents. Assault cases totalled 506,000 incidents involving 295,000 individuals, with 55% involving weapons, mainly knives.

Feelings of safety vary, with 80.4% feeling secure walking alone during the day, but only 34.9% feeling safe at night. The proportion of people taking personal safety measures increased from 29.7% to 39.9% over the year. Despite these challenges, 80% felt safer after taking protective measures, and 43.8% said they would call the police if witnessing a crime.