South Africans are increasingly taking their safety into their own hands, with new crime data revealing a gap between people’s experience of crime and their willingness to report it to police, raising fresh questions about public trust in law enforcement.
The latest Statistics South Africa (Stats SA) Governance, Public Safety and Justice Survey (GPSJS) found that more than 1.08 million households experienced housebreaking in 2025/26, yet only 48.2% reported some or all incidents to police.
The reporting gap was wider for individual crimes. Only 37.3% of people who experienced theft of personal property reported it, while 41.7% of street-robbery victims did so. Of the 179 000 households that experienced home robbery, 51.6% reported some or all incidents.
Among households that experienced housebreaking but did not report it, the most common reason was the belief that police would not do anything about the crime, adding a critical dimension to the reporting gap.
The survey also found that South Africans are increasingly taking their own precautions. The proportion of people aged 16 and older who said they had done something to protect themselves against crime rose from 43.3% in 2024/25 to 46.6% in 2025/26. Of those who took measures, 78.3% said they felt safer afterwards.
