SAPS Reports 343 Fewer Murders in Q1 2026, Eastern Cape Remains Most Dangerous Province

• SAPS recorded 5,427 murders between April and June 2026, marking a 5.9% decrease from the same period last year
• The Eastern Cape posted the highest murder rate at 14.3 per 100,000 people, surpassing even Gauteng despite its lower raw numbers
• Acting National Commissioner Lieutenant General PP Dimpane acknowledged the drop but said the figures still represent 5,427 too many

SOUTH AFRICA — The South African Police Service recorded 5,427 murders between April and June 2026, a 5.9% decline from the 5,770 cases logged during the same three months in 2025, according to first quarter crime statistics published on 28 August 2026.

Acting National Commissioner Lieutenant General PP Dimpane announced the figures via the SAPS Facebook page, noting that while the data reflected 343 fewer murders year-on-year, the total remained deeply troubling. "5,427 too many," Dimpane stated in the post, signalling that the Service does not regard the reduction as cause for complacency.

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Eastern Cape and Western Cape lead in murder rate

Despite the overall decline, provincial breakdowns reveal stark disparities in where South Africans face the greatest risk of being killed. The Eastern Cape recorded the highest murder rate in the country at 14.3 murders per 100,000 people, followed by the Western Cape at 12.8 per 100,000, and KwaZulu-Natal at 8.8 per 100,000.

Gauteng, which registered the highest raw number of murders across the three months, tells a different story when adjusted for population. A resident of Gauteng is less than half as likely to be murdered as someone living in the Eastern Cape, illustrating how raw figures can obscure the true risk faced by communities in smaller, less densely populated provinces. At the opposite end of the scale, Limpopo recorded the lowest murder rate nationally at 2.9 per 100,000 people. The national average for the quarter stood at 8.2 murders per 100,000 people.

Slower decline raises concern

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The 5.9% reduction is also a step back from the momentum recorded in the preceding quarter, when murders fell by 9.5%. Dimpane acknowledged the slower rate of improvement and indicated that SAPS would redirect resources, personnel and operational deployments towards high-crime areas in response. The statistics were released under the SAPS Reset Agenda, a policing initiative framed around accountability, rebuilding public trust and creating safer communities across South Africa.

View the post on Facebook here:

SAPS has no data on political killings since 2020

In a related article, Briefly News reported on the South African Police Service's inability to provide Parliament with consolidated data on political killings since January 2020, exposing significant oversight in monitoring this serious issue. As political violence escalates in the lead-up to local government elections, the warnings from experts underscore the deadly risks faced by those in politics, where disputes are increasingly resolved with violence rather than votes.

Source: Briefly News