The Gauteng police’s latest crime statistics from the South African Police Service (SAPS) for the fourth quarter of the 2025/2026 financial year have reported a noteworthy decline in several serious crime categories across the province.
This promising change has been attributed to the effective implementation of intelligence-led policing and high-visibility operations, coupled with strengthened partnerships between law enforcement and communities.
Gauteng provincial commissioner, Lieutenant General Tommy Mthombeni, delivered the latest crime figures during a media briefing before the provincial legislature in Kempton Park on Tuesday morning.
Mthombeni stated that the latest figures are encouraging as the province saw a total of 5,066 fewer cases of the 17 community-reported serious crimes for this quarter, resulting in an overall decline of 5.2% in comparison to the same time frame last year. Rape cases, in particular, saw a notable decrease of 9.9%, translating to 202 fewer reported incidents.
The provincial commissioner indicated that, most strikingly, carjackings declined sharply by 17.1%, while property-related crimes—including residential and business burglaries as well as vehicle theft—fell by 9.7%. These developments indicate that the various strategies employed by SAPS are beginning to yield positive results, as Mthombeni pointed out during his address.
