Media Statement

The African National Congress welcomes the release of the Third Quarter 2025/2026 crime statistics, which tell a story of deliberate action yielding measurable results. With significant progress recorded across several serious crime categories, we are witnessing the early fruits of a concerted, people-centred approach to safety, rooted in our 2024 Elections Manifesto and reaffirmed in the January 8 Statement.

The latest figures demonstrate that focused, intelligence-driven operations are bearing fruit. The reported 8.7% decrease in murder, 11.3% decrease in robbery with aggravating circumstances, and 8.1% decrease in hijacking signal that sustained interventions are beginning to stabilise communities that have long borne the brunt of violent criminality. The destruction of 13 859 firearms in a single week, bringing the total number of firearms destroyed over seven years to more than 305 000, further confirms that the campaign to remove illegal weapons from our streets is intensifying. Every firearm taken off the streets represents lives potentially saved, families protected and communities restored to safety.

Whilst the progress is notable, we remain mindful that behind every percentage point lies a human story. As a nation, we continue to confront the persistent scourge of Gender-Based Violence and Femicide (GBVF), organised crime, drug syndicates and extortion rackets that terrorise communities and undermine economic activity. The statistics affirm what we have long asserted: the “shadow of crime” referenced in our 2024

Manifesto can be lifted, but only through sustained, coordinated and accountable action.

These improvements are not accidental. They flow directly from the commitments under Priority 5 of the ANC’s 2024 Elections Manifesto calling on Defending Democracy and Advancing Freedom. Defending democracy includes ensuring that our homes, streets and public spaces are safe; modernising policing;

strengthening the Hawks; combating organised crime; tackling corruption; and intensifying the fight against

GBVF.

Since our January 8 Statement prioritised a people-centred approach to justice and safety, government has moved with urgency to translate manifesto commitments into practical implementation. As confirmed by President Cyril Ramaphosa in the 2026 State of the Nation Address, 5,500 new SAPS officers are already in various stages of deployment. This modernisation of the frontline must be deepened through the incorporation of high-tech crime-fighting capabilities into SAPS training curricula, ensuring that officers are equipped not only for the crimes of today, but the complex threats of tomorrow. Enhanced police visibility, improved investigative capacity and coordinated operations are already producing tangible results in identified hotspots.In the war against GBVF, the state of disaster has moved beyond declaration to implementation. The expansion of Sexual Offences Courts is reducing secondary trauma for survivors and improving conviction rates through specialised judicial processes. We look forward to the scaling up of survivor-centred support systems nationally, including the physical placement of social workers in police stations across provinces, ensuring that from the moment a victim reports a crime, they are met with compassion, competence and coordinated care.

The sentencing of 109 GBVF perpetrators to life imprisonment underscores that the state is acting firmly and

decisively. These outcomes send an unequivocal message: there will be consequences for criminality.

We further call for intensified action against organised crime networks, including construction mafias and

extortion syndicates that strangle development projects and hold communities hostage. This is both a safety

imperative and an economic necessity. Economic renewal, infrastructure expansion and job creation cannot

take root in conditions of lawlessness. As the January 8 Statement affirmed, fixing local government,

transforming the economy and restoring safety must go hand in hand.

The Freedom Charter declared that the people shall live in security and comfort. Current operations, including

intensified anti-organised crime initiatives and coordinated law enforcement actions, are part of fulfilling that

historic mandate. Safety is not a privilege for the few; it is a democratic right for all.

However, we remain clear that the struggle against crime is far from over. Too many families still experience

trauma. Too many women and children continue to face abuse. Too many communities remain affected by

drugs, gangsterism and organised criminality. Sustaining momentum requires vigilance, accountability and

partnership.

As the President has affirmed, we cannot win the war against crime without the hands of the people. We call

on community patrollers, Community Policing Forums, business owners, faith-based organisations, traditional

leaders, youth formations and ordinary citizens to remain active partners in crime prevention. When

government acts with purpose and communities stand together, progress is not only possible, it is measurable.

South Africa’s renewal is underway. The declining trends reflected in the Third Quarter statistics demonstrate

that when strategy meets execution, results follow. We will not rest until freedom from fear is a lived reality

for every person, in every neighbourhood, behind every door

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