Crime in South Africa
[17] Violent and non-violent crimes in South Africa have been ascribed to: The country relies on a criminal justice system that is mired in many issues, including inefficiency, corruption and internal polarisation.
[35] By 2020 some toxicological reports of the SAPS were lagging by as much as a decade,[36] while the number of unprocessed DNA samples at the National Forensic Science Laboratories (NFSL) reached a backlog of 117,000 due to mismanagement of the supply chain process.
[71] From 2010 to 2015 two SAPS colonels sold 5,000 police firearms worth R9 million to gangs in the Western Cape,[41] and in 2022 two members of the JMPD were arrested for allegedly supplying criminals with R5 ammunition.
[74] When suspects are apprehended, the police lack experience to prepare a thorough prima facie case,[75] leaving the National Prosecuting Authority (NPA) powerless to institute legal proceedings.
The SAPS's capacity and resource constraints however, besides a lack of intelligence sharing with border control officials and poor internal, inter-departmental collaboration, hamper their execution of operations in this specialized area.
[156] The number of frail and handicapped patients that die at residential care facilities due to criminal neglect is unknown,[157][158][159] but is ascribed to a pattern of abuse which is widespread and under-reported.
[169] South Africa has amongst the highest incidence of child and infant rape in the world,[171] and sexual violence remains a scourge at day care facilities, schools, colleges, universities[108] and churches.
[202] A private bus operator in the province has however won consecutive cases against the MEC, national police commissioners and the Department of Transport for their failures in protecting it from attacks following its rejection of extortion demands from the taxi mafia.
[254] Operation Dudula members which have protested the allegedly laissez-faire approach followed by Home Affairs in regards to illegal immigrants, have pointed out that their activism should not be linked to xenophobic motives.
[258] The Banking Risk Information Centre (Sabric) indicated that credit and debit card fraud increased by 20.5% between 2018 and 2019,[259] and the perpetrators manage to bag hundreds of millions annually.
[281] Likewise individuals who successfully approached the DALRRD for access to agricultural land have found that they are harassed and face eviction from their farms when refusing to pay bribes to corrupt officials.
The economy of post-apartheid South Africa retains a colonial or apartheid structure where a few private and public companies dominate key sectors, a situation that has been condoned and perpetuated by political connections.
[330] In 2002, the South African Minister of Finance, Trevor Manuel, wanted to establish a call centre for the public to check reputations of businesses due to proliferation of scams such as advance fee fraud, pyramid schemes and fly-by-night operators.
[380] In 2020 the Special Investigating Unit (SIU) referred 5,452 Eskom staff members, or over 10% of its workforce, for disciplinary proceedings due to conflict of interest or after they were exposed in lifestyle audits.
In December 2022 small contingents of soldiers were placed at Tutuka, Camden, Grootvlei and Majuba stations in a first deployment phase intended to discourage increasing vandalism, theft and corruption.
[384][385][391] The Auditor-General of South Africa, which employs 700 chartered accountants to audit state expenditure at all three levels of government, has revealed a surge in crimes against its employees, starting 2016.
[392] In 2018 South Africa incurred R80 billion in irregular expenditure due to outstanding audits and incomplete information,[393][394] and passing of municipal budgets may be subject to bribes.
[410] Private "covidpreneurs" launched numerous scams to exploit the public during the pandemic,[412][413] but violent crime showed a slight decrease during level 4 and 3 lockdown, compared to the same months of the previous year.
It is believed that police officers are bribed and provide protection for smugglers at Dragon City in Centurion and China Mall in Midrand, while Marabastad, Pretoria, has been highlighted as another smuggling hub.
[468] Livestock theft is prevalent and increasing[469] in all provinces of South Africa, but the Eastern Cape, where gangs of thieves openly target marginal farmers,[470] has the highest number of cases.
[476] Since 1996, ARC's Animal Genetics Laboratory in Irene, Pretoria, assists the SAPS in about 500 cases per annum where DNA matching may provide identification, determine parentage or resolve ownership of stolen livestock or poached game.
[483] Gates, fencing, man-hole covers, paving stones, filling material of road embankments,[484] metal sheeting,[485] any copper objects (which fetches R80/kg),[486] brass water meters,[487] street lights, pipes, bathroom taps and parts of statues are stolen,[488][489][490] and smaller items are whisked away in wheelie bins in broad daylight.
[497][436] Around Johannesburg, vandalism and theft of the power grid infrastructure shows an upward trend, and the Gauteng province has established a multi-disciplinary task team to curb these crimes by integrating available resources and expertise.
[499] Cape Town experiences equipment damage and theft that impacts the electricity supply to residents, communities and road users, and results in almost constant outages in some areas.
As of 2020, illegal connections in Soweto alone causes Johannesburg's City Power R3 million in losses daily,[502] but the practice is also current in Diepsloot and Alexandra where meter boxes and units are absent,[503] besides Roodepoort, Midrand and even the upmarket Waterfall Estate.
[514] Schools are seen as easy targets for thieves looking for laptops, computers, data projectors, photocopiers,[515] cameras and cash,[516][517] though fencing, electrical equipment, gas cylinders,[518] filing cabinets, desks and stationery are also stolen.
They are believed to launder foreign drug money, run extortion rackets, trade in illicit goods, and have succeeded in corrupting senior policemen and government officials.
[563] In 2008 government expressed concern about a rising number of thefts of artifacts and heritage objects from museums, galleries, castles and churches,[564] but relied on incomplete statistics, starting 1990.
[153] Gated communities are usually protected by high perimeter walls topped with electric fencing, guard dogs, barred doors and windows and alarm systems linked to private security forces.
[595] In November 2020, in response to the SAPS's poor logistics management, parliament's chairwoman for the portfolio committee on police, Tina Joemat-Pettersson, expressed the opinion that the country was only reacting to crime, without being proactive.
