Kidnappings spike in Joburg, but murders, sexual offences reduce

Although contact crimes are down nationally, Johannesburg remains the country’s crime hotspot, leading in contact crimes, according to the latest crime statistics for the second quarter (July-September) of 2025, published by SAPS on 28 November.

The statistics, reflecting crimes reported to police in that quarter, show that contact crimes decreased by 3.1% overall compared with the same period in the previous year. Still, provincially, Gauteng leads with 41,116 contact crimes – just more than a quarter of the 155,936 reported countrywide during the period under review. Contact crimes include murder, sexual offences and assault.

Most notably, Johannesburg remains the kidnapping hub of the country. Gauteng continues to account for more than half of total kidnappings in the country and saw a 1.8% increase in cases.

The crime statistics show that in the second quarter, 27 of the 30 police stations recording the highest number of kidnappings were in Gauteng, and of them, 13 were in Johannesburg. These police stations include Lenasia, which recorded an increase in kidnapping cases of 35.1%, Roodepoort, which saw a 21.2% increase, and Honeydew, which recorded a 57.1% increase.

Attempted murders also increased significantly in the province, by 11.5% in July to September compared with the same period in the previous year. Five of the top 30 police stations recording attempted murders were in Johannesburg. The stations included Johannesburg Central, Eldorado Park, Alexandra, Cosmo City and Meadowlands.

Vosloorus in Ekurhuleni reported the most kidnapping cases nationally and recorded an 8.8% increase in kidnapping cases from July to September. Other stations across the province that had significant increases in kidnapping cases included Heidelberg (57.9%) and Boksburg North (58.8%). Boksburg North, in particular, has seen a staggering increase in kidnapping cases from three during July to September in 2021 to 44 cases in the corresponding period in 2025.

Behind the kidnapping stats

Lizette Lancaster is head of the Justice and Violence Prevention Programme at the Institute of Security Studies. She told Daily Maverick that Gauteng’s kidnapping statistics were directly linked to its large population and relative economic prosperity, presenting more opportunities for organised crime.

“If one considers that about half of the country’s armed robberies are reported in Gauteng, it follows that the same will be true for kidnappings, which is often a crime associated with robberies. For example, victims are kidnapped during hijackings or business robberies to further extort funds from the victim’s banking applications or from their families or business associates,” she said.

She said major drivers of crime in the province included interpersonal conflict, in which people used violence to deal with conflict, particularly in social and domestic settings, and injuries sustained during armed robberies and hijackings.

However, the overall incidence of contact crimes in Gauteng has reduced. Murder has steadily declined from a five-year high of 6,424 cases in April-June 2022 to 5,770 in April-June 2025. Significant declines were also observed in robberies with aggravating circumstances, which declined by 8.7%, rape (5%), and common robberies (3.8%).

The most significant declines were recorded across property-related crimes. The category saw an overall decline of 11%, with the biggest drops recorded in stock theft (28.8%), burglaries at non-residential properties (14.7%), and burglaries at residential properties (13.4%) compared with the previous year.

Trio crimes, which refer to house, business robberies and hijackings, were also down significantly by 11.7% compared with the previous year.

The top 10 police stations in Gauteng for the 17 community-reported serious crimes:

1. Honeydew – Johannesburg
2. Roodepoort – Johannesburg
3. Midrand – Johannesburg
4. JHB Central – Johannesburg
5. Sandton – Johannesburg
6. Akasia – Tshwane
7. Tembisa – Ekurhuleni
8. Brooklyn – Tshwane
9. Alexandra – Johannesburg
10. Kempton Park – Ekurhuleni. DM