{"id":873160,"date":"2026-09-03T12:30:00","date_gmt":"2026-09-03T10:30:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/?p=873160"},"modified":"2026-09-03T12:17:47","modified_gmt":"2026-09-03T10:17:47","slug":"disturbing-crime-trend-targeting-people-in-south-africas-richest-province","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/government\/873160\/disturbing-crime-trend-targeting-people-in-south-africas-richest-province\/","title":{"rendered":"Disturbing crime trend targeting people in South Africa’s richest province"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Kidnappings have emerged as a serious concern in South Africa, with Gauteng as the clear epicentre of the problem.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

This is according to the latest crime statistics published by the South African Police Service (SAPS) over the past year. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The latest figures show that while overall serious crime has declined in several categories, kidnappings have remained stubbornly high.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Nationally, between roughly 4,200 and 4,800 kidnapping cases were recorded in most quarters during the 2025\/26 financial year.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In the first quarter, covering April to June 2025, kidnapping cases increased by 6.2% year-on-year from 4,205 to 4,466.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The number rose again to 4,772 cases in the second quarter, before reaching 4,775 in the third quarter.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The fourth quarter recorded 4,478 cases, a 2% decline, while the first quarter of the 2026\/27 financial year still recorded a high 4,251 cases.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The more worrying trend is the growth in kidnappings involving ransom demands. These cases increased by 54.8% year-on-year in the first quarter of 2025\/26, rising from 135 to 209 incidents.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The number remained elevated throughout the year, reaching 224 cases in the second quarter, 208 in the third and 216 in the fourth.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In the first quarter of 2026\/27, ransom kidnappings increased further to 231 cases, representing a 10.5% year-on-year increase and a 6.9% rise from the previous quarter.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Gauteng is bearing the largest share of this crime. The province accounted for 56.9% of all reported kidnappings nationally in the first quarter of 2025\/26, with 2,542 cases.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

It recorded the same number in the second quarter, accounting for 53.3% of the national total, followed by 2,551 cases in the third quarter and 2,452 in the fourth.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Gauteng’s dominance becomes even more pronounced when ransom-related kidnappings are considered.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The province accounted for between 60% and 75.5% of these cases across the reporting periods. In the first quarter of 2026\/27, Gauteng recorded 140 of the country’s 231 ransom kidnappings.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Hotspots<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
\"\"<\/a><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

KwaZulu-Natal is the second-largest contributor to the national kidnapping total, generally accounting for between 16% and 19% of cases.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The province recorded between 737 and 903 kidnappings per quarter and regularly reported the second-highest number of ransom cases.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Other provinces have recorded considerably smaller shares. Mpumalanga and North West generally accounted for between 4% and 7% each, although both experienced periods of sharp increases. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Western Cape represented about 4.4% to 5.8% of national cases and generally recorded year-on-year declines.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Eastern Cape and Limpopo each contributed between 3.5% and 5%, while the Free State accounted for about 3% to 4% and the Northern Cape for less than 1%.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The concentration is also clear when looking at individual police stations. Gauteng precincts dominate the list of the country’s 30 kidnapping hotspots.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Vosloorus in Ekurhuleni consistently ranked as the country’s leading kidnapping hotspot, recording 69 cases in the first quarter and 74 in the second.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Heidelberg in the Sedibeng district was also consistently near the top, recording 58 cases in the first quarter and 60 in the second.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Other Gauteng hotspots include Midrand, which recorded 52 cases in the first quarter, Johannesburg Central with 48, Roodepoort with 47 and Eldorado Park with 46.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Tembisa, Kempton Park, Alberton, De Deur, Silverton, Vereeniging and Rietgat also featured among the prominent affected areas.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Outside Gauteng, Umlazi in KwaZulu-Natal recorded 46 cases in the first quarter, while Inanda and Verulam were also among the country’s prominent kidnapping hotspots.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The figures suggest that organised financial crime is an important factor behind the increase in ransom-related kidnappings.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Apart from kidnappings, the SAPS recorded declines in several serious crime categories, including murder, carjacking, aggravated robbery, residential and business robbery, burglary, vehicle theft and stock theft.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Murder declined by 6.9% in the first quarter and 9.5% in the fourth, while carjacking fell by 20.4% in the fourth quarter. Business robberies dropped by 22% over the same period.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

However, attempted murder increased in several quarters, while crimes detected through police action, including drug-related offences and driving under the influence of alcohol or drugs, rose sharply.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

This type of crime has semerged as a serious concern in South Africa, with Gauteng as the clear epicentre of the problem.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":92,"featured_media":873187,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":true,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_sma_x_autopost_status":"posted","_sma_x_autopost_error":"","_sma_x_post_id":"2095459553273893064","_sma_facebook_post_id":"191437357620492_2194638991356500","_sma_instagram_post_id":"18091545191392285","_sma_x_attempts":1,"footnotes":""},"categories":[23],"tags":[22694,853,17501],"class_list":["post-873160","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-government","tag-kidnapping","tag-south-africa","tag-the-south-african-police-service-saps"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/873160","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/92"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=873160"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/873160\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":873189,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/873160\/revisions\/873189"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/873187"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=873160"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=873160"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=873160"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}