Pretoria - More than one million incidents of housebreaking in over 800 000 homes occurred in South Africa during the 2020/21 financial year, with the Western Cape having the most cases in the country.
The high levels of crime were revealed on Thursday by Statistics South Africa in its 2021 report on Governance, Public Safety and Justice Survey (GPSJS), Victims of Crime.
According to the report, the one million reported cases were 17 percent lower than in the previous year.
The decline was attributed to the Covid-19 pandemic which compelled the government to implement strict lockdown measures
“An estimated 1,0 million incidences of housebreaking occurred, affecting 809 000 households in South Africa.
“The number of affected households represents 4,6% of all households in the country. Almost 56% of households that experienced housebreaking reported it to the police,” said Stats SA.
Stats SA said the GPSJS survey showed that an estimated 141 000 incidences of home robberies occurred, affecting 112 000 households in 2020/21.
“The number of affected households represents 0,6% of all households in the country,” said Stats SA.
“About 56% of households that experienced home robbery reported some or all incidences to the police.
“Theft of motor vehicles was experienced by 81 000 households in 2020/21 in a total of 83 000 incidences.”
The report estimates that 844 000 incidences of theft of personal property occurred in 2020/21, affecting 732 000 individuals aged 16 years and older.
While the number of affected individuals represents 1,8% of the population, Stats SA said only about a third of individuals who experienced theft of personal property reported some or all incidences to the police.
As many as 304 000 individuals experienced street robbery and just over half the victims reported the incidents to the police.
A total of 321 000 (0,8% of adults aged 16 and older) individuals experienced customer fraud in a total of 493 000 incidences.
Stats SA said a larger number of these incidences were attributed to advance-fee fraud such as the R99 credit/debit card scam, 419 scams.
Results show that 41,3% of the victims reported some or all incidences to the police, which is a 15,3 percentage point increase compared to the previous year.
About 64 000 hijackings occurred in 2020/21, affecting as many persons aged 16 years and older. Not everyone reported the crimes to the police.