How crime is killing small business in South Africa

Stats SA’s latest Victims of Crime Survey (VOCS), released this week, shows that South Africans are reluctant to start home business due to fear of crime.

The percentage of households who say they were prevented from investing in/starting a home business because of a fear of crime increased to 11.8% in 2016, up from 8.1% in 2011.

Looking at the four major provinces in South Africa, 19.9% of households in the Eastern Cape said a fear of crime impacted their decision to invest in, or start a home business.

In the Western Cape, that figure was 18.7%, in KZN it was 6.4%, and in Gauteng it was 15.4%.

When broken down into population groups, 11.5% of black South African households said they were prevented  from investing in/starting a home business because of fear of crime.

Among coloured households, it was 17.4%, versus 17.5% among Indian households, and 9.8% among white households.

Those who experienced theft of personal property also responded that it occurred in a shop/place of business (13.6%) and in the workplace (11.7%).

Grant Thornton’s International Business Report (IBR) published in the second half of last year showed that more than half (58%) of business executives were directly affected by a threat to personal security.

Read: South Africa crime stats 2016: everything you need to know