Violent crime is tearing our communities apart. The latest crime statistics confirm what far too many families already know: violence remains a daily crisis in South Africa.
But the crime stats also show that there is a path forward to safer communities – if we only focus on what has been proven to work. Taking that path is an imperative, not only for the lives it will save, but also for the economic growth that will stop crime in its tracks.
Violence is not only a human tragedy. It is also one of the most serious economic threats facing our country. Safety and opportunity rise or fall together – and each is necessary for the other.
Recent research confirms this. The World Bank’s 2023 report, Safety First: The Economic Cost of Crime in South Africa, estimates that crime costs our economy at least 10% of GDP every year. That is hundreds of billions of rand lost to violence, insecurity, protection costs, lost productivity and missed investment. At the same time, lack of growth and opportunity create the economic conditions needed for crime to thrive, thus forming a vicious cycle that must be reversed.
Murder going down
In the Western Cape’s targeted safety programme areas, where our provincial government works in partnership with the City of Cape Town and the South African Police Service (SAPS), murder is going down. In the rest of the province and country, it is going up. That is a simple fact that the latest figures continue to prove: comparing Quarter 1 & 2 of 2024/25 and 2025/26, the murder rate in the combined Law Enforcement Advancement Plan (Leap) areas – Delft, Gugulethu, Khayelitsha, Mitchells Plain, Nyanga, and Philippi East – dropped by 7.1% and 9.4% respectively. In areas policed only by the SAPS, that same metric increased by 9.1% over the same time period.
Read more: How Mfuleni’s murder rate mirrors Western Cape’s increase, while much of the country declines
Fighting and investigating crime are, at present, primarily functions assigned to the national government. But while local and provincial governments such as ours are not funded to fight crime, we often feel compelled to do so anyway. The reason for this is simple: we have a duty to our residents to do better, and the SAPS simply isn’t coping.
Part of this is a resourcing problem – the Western Cape has thousands fewer officers deployed to it than necessary – but part of the problem is also to do with how policing is conducted. The SAPS in large part relies on the same paper-based systems it has used for decades, and chronically neglects investigative and intelligence capabilities in its budgeting. Leap has shown what can happen when South African policing is brought into the 21st century. The SAPS can, and must, follow us down this path.
The Western Cape government and the City of Cape Town spend millions of rand a year on law enforcement, but the SAPS’ annual budget dwarfs the entire provincial government budget. If the SAPS cannot find ways to modernise and properly resource its efforts, a conversation must be had about ways in which provincial and municipal governments may be given the resources to succeed where the SAPS is underperforming.
Thankfully, Acting Minister of Police Firoz Cachalia has shown a willingness to confront these failures that was notably lacking from his predecessors. But we need to see action and results urgently.
We also need to attack the problem from all sides. Policing without prevention is like trying to mop up water while the tap remains open. In the Western Cape, we are investing in the violence prevention programmes that protect lives, strengthen communities, and create a foundation for more jobs and opportunities for the future.
Read more: Decline in murders brings little consolation for victims’ families
Local partnerships
Our approach focuses on local partnerships within communities, and especially prioritises the needs of the next generation. Last year, in one of the largest initiatives of its kind, we surveyed more than 49,000 Grade 8 and 9 learners to hear directly from young people about their daily realities. We are now using it to shape practical interventions in partnership with parents, teachers, local services and community partners.
It is perhaps no surprise that those precincts that have seen reductions in violence are also home to some of the violence prevention initiatives of which we are most proud. The approach is working, but we need the buy-in of the national government.
We need to work together to build an economy that grows and delivers real progress out of crime-breeding poverty, and prepare our youth to play a meaningful part in a brighter future. At the same time, we need an effective police service that stops crime and violence, and we need fully resourced, decentralised, smarter policing that responds to local realities.
If South Africa wants to get serious about jobs and growth, then safety must become a priority with laser-like focus on lessons learned in some of our province’s most violent areas. DM
Alan Winde is the Western Cape Premier.