Note to Editors: Attached please find a soundbite in English by DA MPL, Crezane Bosch here and Afrikaans here.
The latest crime statistics released by the South African Police Service (SAPS) paint a concerning picture about the safety of Gauteng residents. Gauteng accounted for 54.8% of all kidnapping cases recorded nationally, making it the highest contributor in the country and further confirming the province’s status as South Africa’s kidnapping epicentre.
According to the Fourth Quarter Crime Statistics for the 2025/2026 financial year (January to March 2026), an average of 27 kidnappings per day was recorded. The kidnappings in Gauteng increased from 2,414 in the fourth quarter of 2024/2025 to 2,452 in the fourth quarter of 2025/2026. This represents a rise of 38 cases, which is equivalent to 1.6%. Among the top 30 kidnapping police stations nationally, 19 are in Gauteng.
Furthermore, Gauteng recorded 163 ransom-related kidnappings, accounting for 75.5% of all ransom kidnappings nationally.
This means that residents in Gauteng are more at risk of being kidnapped than anywhere else in the country, highlighting not only the scale of the crisis but also the growing gravity of kidnapping as organised criminal syndicates roam our streets with increasing confidence and little fear of apprehension.
Recent kidnapping incidents in Gauteng highlight the escalating severity and organised nature of the crisis. In January 2026, kidnappers abducted two women on New Year’s Eve and later killed them. In May 2026, criminals kidnapped a man during a housebreaking in Kagiso and demanded a R500,000 ransom. In April 2026, abductors seized a Vosloorus spaza shop owner and kept him in hijacked buildings for nearly a month.
The detrimental effects are clear: Gauteng remains unsafe for its residents, young and old. Business owners and investors are increasingly disgruntled, with some considering shutting down operations. At the same time, the investors the province should be attracting are not coming because of the persistent scourge of crime and the lack of solutions.
The Democratic Alliance (DA) has consistently warned that the crime-fighting strategies employed by the Premier Panyaza Lesufi-led government are lagging in addressing increasingly innovative and organised criminal activity that is running amok. The 27 kidnappings taking place daily demand urgent, decisive intervention, not political slogans, or soundbites of imagined safety.
The DA will request the Community Safety Portfolio Committee Chairperson, Dr Bandile Masuku, to call the Premier to a committee meeting to explain his turnaround strategy to address the rising incidents of kidnapping in the province. Furthermore, the DA calls on Premier Lesufi to engage with his national counterpart, Minister of Police, Firoz Cachalia, to urgently strengthen crime-fighting intelligence and improve coordinated law enforcement efforts to deal with the scourge.
The DA is the only party with a viable plan to tackle organised crime in the province. It will urgently engage the Minister of Police to devolve certain policing powers to the provincial level, enabling a more efficient and responsive crime-prevention strategy. This includes strengthening police stations with adequate resources and personnel and enhancing training and intelligence capacity to combat organised crimes such as kidnapping.