South Africa’s crime statistics for 2019/20 - Researched by Africa Check

We look at a number of crimes in the public interest, and include the rate of crimes committed relative to the most recent population estimates – a measure not included in the police’s crime statistics for 1 April 2019 to 31 March 2020.

Murders of women and children

In 2019/20, a total of 2,695 women were murdered in South Africa – down from 2,771 in 2018/19. This means a woman is murdered every three hours. A total of 943 children were murdered. 

The figures for murder of women and children are preliminary. According to Maj Gen Norman Sekhukhune, head of police crime research and statistics, verification of the dockets – which link a victim to a crime – could not be finalised due to the Covid-19 pandemic.

Sexual offences

“Sexual offences” is a broad category of crime that includes rape, compelled rape, sexual assault, incest, bestiality, statutory rape and the sexual grooming of children.

Reported sexual offences increased to 53,293 in 2019/20 from 52,420 in 2018/19. Most of these were cases of rape.

The rate of sexual offences decreased slightly from 90.9 per 100,000 in 2018/19 to 90.8 in 2019/20.

Rape

South Africa’s legal definition of rape is broad. It includes the oral, anal or vaginal penetration of a person (male or female) with a genital organ, anal or vaginal penetration with any object and the penetration of a person’s mouth with the genital organs of an animal.

The police recorded 42,289 rapes in 2019/20, up from 41,583 in 2018/19. This means the police recorded an average of 116 rapes each day.

The rape rate remained at 72.1.

But the police’s rape statistics should not been viewed as an “accurate measure of either the extent or trend of this crime”, the ISS has warned. There is no recent and nationally representative estimate of how many women are raped in South Africa each year.

Research and Statistics by Africa Check