According to the survey results released by statistician-general Pali Lehohla, the percentage of households that experienced at least one incident of crime decreased from nine per cent in 2015/16 to seven per cent in 2016/17.
Despite the decline in crime, the same survey report revealed that South Africans were not feeling any safer in their neighbourhoods.
The survey found that feelings of safety among South Africans when walking alone in their neighbourhood when it is dark decreased from 31 per cent in 2015/16 to 29 per cent in 2016/17.
- Household break-in
With an estimated total of 1 468 278 crime incidents experienced by 1 153 984 households in 2016/17, the survey also indicated that the number of households that experienced at least one house break-in or burglary in the Ekurhuleni metro during the 2016/17 period was 59 822.
In addition to this, the survey showed that, nationwide, victimised households represented 7.2 per cent of all households in South Africa.
Male-headed households were more likely to be victims of crime, with 7.5 per cent of victimisation compared to female-headed households (6.6 per cent).
- Population groups
Estimation according to different population groups showed that coloured households were the most victimised (8.9 per cent) and black Africans were the least victimised, with 6.9 per cent of households having experienced crime in 2016/17.
- Common crimes
The most common crime experienced in 2016/17 was house break-in or burglary (53 per cent) followed by theft of livestock (11 per cent) and home robbery (10 per cent).
Last year home robbery was number two at 12 per cent of all household crimes.
Theft of personal property topped the individual crime list at 42 per cent, followed by assault (18 per cent) and robbery (16 per cent).
“It is estimated that a total of 776 933 house break-in incidents were committed in 2016/17, affecting a total of 647 340 households. This number of households represents four per cent of all households in South Africa,” said Lehohla in a statement.
It was further found that 51 per cent of victims of house break-ins reported them to the police.
Two main reasons given for not reporting to the police were ‘police could do nothing’ and ‘the police would do nothing’, together accounting for 60 per cent of the households. Thirty-eight per cent of the households that reported house break-in were satisfied with police response.
“In 2016/17 just over 84 per cent of households felt safe walking in their neighbourhoods during the day while 30 per cent felt safe walking at night. The trend of feeling safe walking in the neighbourhood continues to decline, especially feeling of safety at night.”
The survey indicated that murder was another crime that had a very low count among households interviewed, with only 25 out of a total 21 095 households having reported that they were victims of murder during the past year.
Over 10 000 female-headed households were victims of murder, representing 0,16 per cent of all female-headed households. This percentage of victimised households was more than twice the corresponding percentage in the case of male-headed households.
It was also estimated that a total of 121 764 households had experienced theft out of motor vehicle in 2016/17, which represents 2.54 per cent of all households in South Africa. A total of 139 432 incidents of theft out of motor vehicle were experienced by households in 2016/17, according to the report.
