{"id":97894,"date":"2025-05-25T18:50:31","date_gmt":"2025-05-25T16:50:31","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/radioislam.org.za\/a\/?p=97894"},"modified":"2025-05-25T18:50:31","modified_gmt":"2025-05-25T16:50:31","slug":"south-africas-soaring-sexual-offences-criminologist-warns-of-deep-rooted-systemic-crisis","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/radioislam.org.za\/a\/south-africas-soaring-sexual-offences-criminologist-warns-of-deep-rooted-systemic-crisis\/","title":{"rendered":"South Africa\u2019s Soaring Sexual Offences: Criminologist Warns of Deep-Rooted Systemic Crisis"},"content":{"rendered":"

Neelam Rahim | neelam@radioislam.co.za<\/a> <\/em><\/p>\n

3-minute read<\/em>
\n08 January 2025 | 15:45 CAT<\/em><\/p>\n

\"\"

Criminologist warns of deepening crisis as SA records over 100 rapes daily, highlighting systemic failures in justice and policing despite drop in murder rates. (Image – CSVR)<\/p><\/div>\n

A disturbing picture of violent crime continues to plague South Africa, despite a marginal decrease in murder and robbery. According to the latest quarterly crime statistics released by Police Minister Senzo Mchunu, sexual offences\u2014particularly rape and contact sexual crimes\u2014have surged, prompting renewed concern from experts and civil society alike.<\/p>\n

Speaking to Radio Islam International<\/em><\/a>, criminologist Jean Steyn described the situation as “unacceptable,” noting that although murder rates dropped by 12.4%, the country still records \u201c64 murders every day, 119 women raped daily, and 42 children sexually abused each day.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cSouth Africa ranks fifth worst globally for overall crime and seventh for organised crime,\u201d Steyn said, referencing the 2025 Global Crime Index. He contrasted South Africa\u2019s numbers with those of China: \u201cWith a population of 1.42 billion, China reports 32,000 rapes annually. South Africa, with only 62 million people, reports 42,000\u2014making our rape rate 30 times higher<\/em>.\u201d<\/p>\n

Steyn raised alarm over the criminal justice system\u2019s effectiveness, noting that fewer than 3% of reported cases result in convictions, while 80% of inmates reoffend post-release. \u201cThe public\u2019s confidence in law enforcement and judicial institutions is at an all-time low,\u201d he warned.<\/p>\n

He further criticised the crime report\u2019s failure to triangulate data with the Victims of Crime Survey and its silence on the growing trend of kidnappings, particularly of business owners. \u201cSouth Africa is now seen as a global kidnapping hotspot,\u201d he stated. \u201cThe lack of intelligence-gathering capacity on the ground speaks volumes about our state\u2019s readiness.\u201d<\/p>\n

While hopeful for change, Steyn stressed the need for political will and structural transformation. \u201cPutting uniforms on untrained personnel won\u2019t solve this. The Directorate for Priority Crimes is the right move, but it’s under-resourced. We need more than just cosmetic fixes.\u201d<\/p>\n

He also dismissed foreign claims of a \u201cwhite genocide,\u201d insisting that crime is a national problem affecting all<\/em> South Africans: \u201cThe statistics don\u2019t support these narratives. Crime here is pervasive and not confined to any one group.\u201d<\/p>\n

With sexual offences and online crimes on the rise, and public trust eroding, the message is clear: urgent reform is not optional\u2014it\u2019s imperative.<\/p>\n

Listen<\/strong> to the full interview on The Daily Round Up<\/a> with Moulana Habib Bobat and criminologist Jean Steyn.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Neelam Rahim | neelam@radioislam.co.za 3-minute read 08 January 2025 | 15:45 CAT A disturbing picture of violent crime continues to plague South Africa, despite a marginal decrease in murder and robbery. According to the latest quarterly crime statistics released by Police Minister Senzo Mchunu, sexual offences\u2014particularly rape and contact sexual crimes\u2014have surged, prompting renewed concern […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":29,"featured_media":97895,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_et_pb_use_builder":"","_et_pb_old_content":"","_et_gb_content_width":"","_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[28,4995],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-97894","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-latest-news","category-south-africa"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/radioislam.org.za\/a\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/05\/images-1.jpg?fit=223%2C199&ssl=1","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[],"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/pc0QIf-psW","jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"publishpress_future_action":{"enabled":false,"date":"2026-04-22 23:05:35","action":"change-status","newStatus":"draft","terms":[],"taxonomy":"category","extraData":[]},"publishpress_future_workflow_manual_trigger":{"enabledWorkflows":[]},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/radioislam.org.za\/a\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/97894","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/radioislam.org.za\/a\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/radioislam.org.za\/a\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/radioislam.org.za\/a\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/29"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/radioislam.org.za\/a\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=97894"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/radioislam.org.za\/a\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/97894\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/radioislam.org.za\/a\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/97895"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/radioislam.org.za\/a\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=97894"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/radioislam.org.za\/a\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=97894"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/radioislam.org.za\/a\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=97894"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}