The worst areas for housebreakings in South Africa – and what criminals after
While burglaries and robberies have declined over the past year in South Africa, this doesn’t tell the full story, and some areas are harder hit by criminals than others.
The South African Police Service (SAPS) has published the latest crime statistics for the first quarter of 2024/25, which covers April to June 2024.
According to the SAPS’ data, burglaries at residential premises decreased by 7.4% year-on-year.
However, while robberies with aggravated circumstances at houses increased by only 0.2% year-on-year, they were up by almost 1.3% from the second quarter.
While similar in nature (criminal trespassing and theft), burglaries and robberies are differentiated by the presence of the victim.
Burglaries occur when a thief enters a home intending to steal while the victim is absent, while robberies happen when the victim is present and threatened during the theft.
Despite decreasing year-on-year, burglaries still far outstrip robberies in South Africa in number, and – after drug-related crime and assault – is the biggest crime subcategory in the country.
Data captured at police stations across the country recorded 34,075 cases of home burglaries between April to June 2024 – roughly 379 incidents a day. Meanwhile, the SAPS recorded 5,641 house robberies over the same period – or 63 every day.
However, this doesn’t tell the full story.
Stats SA has published the latest Victims of Crime (VoC) survey, showing that South Africa’s crime statistics are likely far worse than what the Police Department reports.
South Africa’s official crime statistics are based on incidents or crimes reported at police stations and crimes discovered by the police. This means the data can only reflect the crimes that go through the official process, leaving many crimes unaccounted for.
The VoC Survey, on the other hand, looks at crimes through the victim’s experience, including the significant number of crimes that go unreported in South Africa.
The survey’s data shows that burglaries and robberies increased by 4.6% and 7.2% from 2022/23 to 2023/24, respectively.
This shows an increasing trend for both break-ins and robberies in South Africa.
The data further indicates that there are roughly 94,167 burglaries and 17,417 robberies across South Africa every day.
Experts have warned that solar panels, gas bottles, and gate motors top the list of items being stolen from properties in South Africa in 2024.
Burglary at a residential premises
Nationally, Gauteng accounts for most of the burglaries across the nine provinces, with just under a quarter (21.4%) of home burglaries in South Africa taking place in the province.
This is unsurprising as it is the most populous province in South Africa and thus has a proportional amount of crime.
This is also seen with the Northern Cape, the most scarcely populated province in the country, and thus has the lowest number of reported burglaries (3.5%).
However, almost every province in South Africa is represented in the ‘top 10 worst areas’ list, and it is Mankweng in Limpopo (KZN) which has drawn the most cases of break-ins, followed by two KZN suburbs, Plessislaer and Inanda, in second and third.
The top 10 worst areas for break-ins are given in the table below.
| # | Precinct | Province | No. of break-ins |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Mankweng | Limpopo | 215 |
| 2 | Plessislaer | KZN | 176 |
| 3 | Inanda | KZN | 170 |
| 4 | Witbank | Mpumalanga | 164 |
| 5 | Mmabatho | North West | 156 |
| 6 | Kwadukuza | KZN | 152 |
| 7 | Akasia | Gauteng | 147 |
| 8 | Vosman | Mpumalanga | 143 |
| 9 | Secunda | Mpumalanga | 142 |
| 10 | Mountain Rise | KZN | 142 |
Robbery at a residential premises
According to the SAPS report, contact crimes, including common robbery and robbery with aggravating circumstances, among other things, made up the biggest crime category, with 153,637 cases reported between April and June 2024 – increasing by 2.6% compared to the same period in 2023.
Contact crime refers to crimes in which the victims are the targets of violence or instances where the victims are in the vicinity of property that criminals target and are subjected to the use of/or threats of violence by perpetrators, said the SAPS.
A subcategory of contact crimes is robbery with aggravating circumstances, which includes robbery at residential premises, listed under ‘Trio crimes’ – including carjacking and robbery at non-residential premises.
As with burglaries, Gauteng has the highest number of home robberies (36.7%). However, Gauteng and its areas take up half of the places in the ‘top 10 worst areas’ list.
This is followed by KZN (21%) and the Eastern Cape (10.4%). The worst place for robberies is New Brighton in the Eastern Cape.
This is followed by Tembisa (Gauteng) in second place and another Eastern Cape suburb, Kwazakele, in third.
The top 10 worst areas for home robberies are given in the table below.
| # | Precinct | Province | No. of aggravated robberies |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | New Brighton | Eastern Cape | 91 |
| 2 | Tembisa | Gauteng | 80 |
| 3 | Kwazakele | Eastern Cape | 76 |
| 4 | Inanda | KZN | 76 |
| 5 | Roodepoort | Gauteng | 60 |
| 6 | Moffatview | Gauteng | 57 |
| 7 | Umlazi | KZN | 57 |
| 8 | Cosmo City | Gauteng | 55 |
| 9 | Honeydew | Gauteng | 55 |
| 10 | Meadowlands | Gauteng | 52 |
Read: The worst areas for hijacking in South Africa – and the cars being targetted
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