According to statistics, there were 983 000 homes affected by around 1.4 million housebreaking events in South Africa during the fiscal year 2021–2022.
According to the Victims of Crime Report for the Governance, Public Safety and Justice Survey (GPSJS) 2021/22 published on Tuesday by Statistics South Africa (Stats SA).
About 30 000 homes in the nine provinces participated in the study.
According to the EPA, the 1.4 million occurrences affected at least 5.4% of homes nationwide, and just under 60% of them were reported to the police.
The report also describes the volume of crimes committed in homes throughout the previous fiscal year.
“Approximately 205 000 residential burglaries—that is, burglaries that occur while residents are home—took place, impacting 155 000 families. 0.9% of all households in the nation are among the impacted households.
“In a total of 42 000 occurrences, motor vehicle thefts occurred in 42 000 homes. Less than 1% of all households in the nation had a car stolen.
According to the organisation, 57% of families who suffered motor vehicle theft reported some or all cases to the police, a fall of 33.8 percentage points over the prior year.
The theft of a motor vehicle is the only category that shows a decrease, according to the study, which emphasises how individual crime levels are also increasing.
“In 2021–2022, an estimated 1 105 000 people aged 16 and over were victims of 1 331 000 personal property theft incidents.
People who are afflicted make up 2.6% of the total population. In a total of 295 000 cases, 246 000 people were victims of street robberies, according to the data.
Additionally, it was reported that there had been around 12 000 cases of sexual offences and about 20 000 murders.
The numbers also showed a rise in consumer fraud, with more people in 2021/22 being the victims of a financial swindle than of a carjacking.
“In a total of 844 000 occurrences, 376 000 people reported being victims of consumer fraud. According to the findings, 44.2% of the victims reported some or all instances to the police, an increase of 2.9 percentage points over the year before.
“From 64 000 in 2020–21 to 134 000 in 202–22, more people were victims of hijacking. In 2021/22, 134 000 people were affected by an anticipated 137 000 hijackings. According to the research, 63% of the victims reported some or all of the incidents to the authorities.
Being secure
According to the figures, the majority of South Africans—approximately 81%—still feel comfortable strolling around their neighbourhood during the day, but only roughly 36% do so in the evening.
“In general, women felt safer than men did when they were out alone during the day. Similar to how people of metropolitan regions felt less secure strolling alone in their neighbourhoods after dark, rural inhabitants felt more secure.
According to Stats SA, almost 30,4% of the population said they only walk during safer times.
According to the Stats SA survey, over half of South Africans are taking precautions to safeguard themselves.
“Around 48% of people said they had taken steps to defend themselves, and 28.8% said their primary means of self-defense has been to take physical measures to secure their house.
Only 3.8% of respondents identified carrying a weapon as their primary method of crime prevention, including a pistol, knife, screwdriver, or blade, according to the study.