The latest statistics released today have revealed that the Eastern Cape remains the most dangerous place to live in South Africa. It is a province where lawlessness is becoming more brazen, violent, and organised, and where government remains paralysed in the face of rising fear.
Although Q4 showed a slight decline, with 1,020 murders recorded between January and March 2025, the Eastern Cape still records the highest murder rate in the country at 15.4 per 100,000 people.
When combining the quarterly stats for the 2024/25 financial year, 4,804 people were murdered in the Eastern Cape, an average of more than 13 lives lost every day!
The Province also has six stations in the top 30 stations in terms of murder dockets opened, five of them in Nelson Mandela Bay, namely: Kwazakele (6th), New Brighton (8th), Motherwell (17th), Kwanobuhle (19th), and KwaDwesi (21st), with Mthatha (25th) completing the list.
In just three months, 34 multiple murder cases were reported involving 78 victims, which shows the levels of escalating brutality.
Sexual offences have shown a marginal decline, but the danger remains acute. The Eastern Cape has the highest rape rate in South Africa, with a ratio of 24.7 per 100,000.
Kidnappings have increased by 6.3 percent, with 235 cases reported, including 13 incidents involving ransom demands. These figures reveal the growing confidence and coordination of criminal syndicates operating in our province.
Residential robberies are also on the rise, with 617 households targeted in just three months. Stock theft is up by 8.5 percent, with 1,628 cases reported. House and business burglaries also continue to surge.
Compounding the crisis is the ballooning number of cases marked “undetected” by SAPS. This does not mean suspects were cleared or evidence dismissed. It means the docket was closed without an arrest, often because there were not enough trained detectives to investigate the case properly.
Between 2016 and 2023, SAPS lost over 8,400 detectives, shrinking the national pool from 26,000 to just 17,600. That number continues to decline, even as violent crime intensifies.
Earlier this month, I raised the urgent realities facing residents of the Northern Areas in Nelson Mandela Bay before the national Parliamentary Portfolio Committee of Police. Subsequently, their report has been adopted, and the Minister of Police is now obligated to act.
Our demands include the urgent rebuilding of crime intelligence and investigative capacity, redeployment of experienced officers, and recruitment of new detectives into high-crime zones.
The Democratic Alliance (DA) remains committed to working with the South African Police Service (SAPS) to reduce violent crime, which is only possible through devolved policing powers, enhanced crime intelligence, and localised enforcement partnerships.
The DA’s safety plan offers a practical, results-driven roadmap. It includes localised policing strategies that embed officers in the communities they serve; expanded forensic and intelligence capacity backed by technology and real-time data; specialised units focused on gang, drug, rural and GBV-related crime; and a complete overhaul of SAPS to ensure every officer is trained, accountable, and properly resourced
Our province cannot afford this spiral of failure. The DA will again table a motion in the Eastern Cape Legislature demanding real investment in surveillance and crime-fighting infrastructure.
The people of the Eastern Cape deserve a future without fear. It begins with rebuilding the institutions meant to protect them.