Alarming trends in KZN crime stats

THE latest crime statistics show that the province of KwaZulu-Natal remains the epicentre of violent and property crimes, which contributes significantly to South Africa's overall crime rate.

- SIPHO JACK [e-mail]

Once again, the province featured a high murder rate, with 20% of all the country's murders happening in KZN.

The worrying trends were brought to light in the recently released crime statistics by the SAPS for the second quarter of 2025, which relates to the period July to September.

According to the data provided, the KZN SAPS' stations that featured prominently for their high crime rate included Inanda, Umlazi, Plessislaer, Chatsworth, Phoenix, Pinetown, and Durban Central.

Yet again, the Inanda policing precinct recorded the most contact crimes in the province in this latest term with 956 cases filed, a 2.1% increase when compared to the period between April to June 2024.

In contrast, Umlazi saw a positive shift in its contact crime figures, with the number of registered cases decreased from 842 in the same term last year to 762 in the current period in question, which reflected a 9.5% reduction.

Plessislaer (in Pietermaritzburg) also showed moderate improvement with 730 recorded incidents of contact crimes, which reflected a 9.8% decrease from the previous year's statistic of 809 cases.

However, Chatsworth has emerged as a growing concern, with a massive 21.3% increase in reported contact crime cases, rising from 578 last year to 701 in the current term.

Durban Central showed a dip with 689 reported cases, down from 728 in the previous year.