Note to Editors: You can download sound clips in English and Afrikaans from Dr Vicky Knoetze MPL.
- Eastern Cape recorded the highest rape ratio in South Africa at 22.3 per 100 000 people, with 1 476 rapes reported in just three months.
- Sexual offences increased to 1 795 cases, while attempted sexual offences jumped by 14.9%.
- Seven Eastern Cape police officers were murdered, the highest number in the country during the quarter.
As Women’s Month draws to a close, the latest crime statistics expose the brutal reality facing women in the Eastern Cape. This province remains the most dangerous place in South Africa for women, who are more likely to be raped here than anywhere else in the country.
I will request an urgent hearing of the Eastern Cape Legislature’s Portfolio Committee on Community Safety, where MEC Xolile Nqatha, Provincial Commissioner Lieutenant General Vuyisile Ncata, and the relevant specialised policing leadership must account for the province’s response to sexual violence. The hearing must interrogate detective and FCS capacity, case backlogs, forensic delays, station-level resourcing, and the interventions being implemented in the communities recording the highest levels of sexual offences.
The latest crime statistics, released this afternoon for the period between April and June 2026, reveal that 1 476 rapes were reported in the Eastern Cape, unchanged from the same period last year. At 22.3 rapes per 100 000 people, the Eastern Cape has the highest rape ratio of any province in the country.
Overall sexual offences increased from 1 779 to 1 795 cases, with attempted sexual offences rising from 94 to 108 cases, an increase of 14.9%. Contact sexual offences also increased from 14 to 24 cases.
These statistics represent women and girls whose lives have been violently altered, in a province where government spends every August speaking about the protection and empowerment of women.
Women’s Month means very little if women cannot walk home safely, use public transport without fear, or trust that when they report sexual violence, the state has the capacity to investigate the crime and bring the perpetrator to justice.
The broader figures reinforce the scale of the crisis. Although murder declined by 4.5% to 1 047 cases, which is welcome, the Eastern Cape still recorded the highest murder ratio in South Africa at 15.8 murders per 100 000 people.
Even the men and women expected to protect our communities are under attack. Seven police officers were murdered in the Eastern Cape between April and June, more than in any other province. Five were killed while off duty and two while on duty.
A policing system in which communities do not feel safe, and police officers themselves are being hunted, cannot simply continue doing more of the same.
The DA’s 2026 Local Government Manifesto recognises that fighting crime cannot remain the exclusive preserve of a distant, centralised policing system. It commits the DA to bringing policing closer to the people and giving capable municipalities the powers and resources to fight crime on the ground, backed by stronger partnerships, technology, and more boots on the ground.
Our plan would give capable municipalities greater investigative and intelligence-gathering powers, strengthen cooperation among SAPS, municipal law enforcement, private security, neighbourhood watches, and Community Policing Forums, and expand the use of CCTV, crime data analysis, integrated command centres, and other smart policing technologies.
The DA warned after the previous quarterly crime statistics that reactive policing alone would not turn this crisis around. Three months later, the Eastern Cape remains the province with the country’s highest murder and rape ratios.
Women deserve more than a month of speeches. They deserve communities in which they are safe every day of the year.
And that requires changing the way we fight crime.