SAPS faces backlash over omission of gender-based violence data in latest crime statistics

Daily Maverick

3 days ago

The South African Police Service is under fire for omitting key data on violence against women and children in its latest crime statistics, with critics calling it a betrayal of South Africa's promise to fight gender-based violence.
The South African Police Service (SAPS) is facing criticism from Parliament, opposition parties, and civil society after failing to include vital data on crimes against women and children in its most recent national crime statistics report. The missing data has sparked concerns about transparency, accountability, and the state's commitment to addressing gender-based violence and femicide (GBVF), one of the most pressing crises facing the country.
The controversy centres on the SAPS' fourth quarter crime statistics for the 2024/25 financial year. During a Portfolio Committee on Police meeting held on Wednesday, 11 June 2025, Members of Parliament raised questions about the absence of disaggregated figures on murder, attempted murder, and assault with intent to cause grievous bodily harm (GBH) targeting women and children.
In response to the inquiry, SAPS officials claimed that while the summary report presented to Parliament on 28 May 2025 did not contain the relevant information, the full version — released to the public on the SAPS' website on 23 May — did include the disaggregated data.
However, this claim was found to be false.
'This assertion is factually incorrect. A review of both the summarised and full versions of the fourth quarter crime statistics confirms that disaggregated data on crimes against women and children is not included.
'The committee has always been of the view that the credibility of statistics is dependent on the tabling of all crime statistics in full, which will drive the police response, especially in the context of the SAPS adopting a data-driven approach to policing,' read the statement from the Portfolio Committee on Police.
Accountability demanded from SAPS leadership
The chairperson of the Portfolio Committee, Ian Cameron, expressed 'serious concern' over the matter, stating that the credibility of crime statistics depended on their completeness and accuracy — especially given the SAPS' stated commitment to a data-driven approach to policing.
'The absence of credible and complete data significantly undermines efforts to assess the scope of violence against women and children and to develop effective, targeted interventions,' said Cameron.
To address the issue, he has written to the minister of police and the national commissioner, requesting a written report by Friday, 20 June 2025. The report must explain both the omission of data and the inaccurate statements made to Parliament during the 11 June meeting.
Cameron warned that failure to provide a satisfactory response could lead to formal parliamentary action.
'Should a satisfactory response not be received, the committee will consider invoking its powers under the National Assembly Rules and the Powers, Privileges and Immunities of Parliament and Provincial Legislatures Act, 2004, to summon the relevant officials to appear before the committee and give evidence under oath or affirmation,' he said.
DA calls omission a 'deliberate misrepresentation'
The Democratic Alliance (DA) has labelled the SAPS' conduct a 'deliberate misrepresentation' of facts. The party has announced its intention to formally ask that the minister of police urgently appear before the committee to account for what it describes as a serious breach of trust.
'This is not a technical error. It is a deliberate misrepresentation that demands accountability. Parliament cannot exercise effective oversight if it is being fed misinformation,' said Lisa Schickerling, the DA deputy spokesperson on police, in a statement.
According to the DA, this is not the first instance of SAPS leadership providing incorrect information regarding the crime statistics. During the 11 June committee meeting, Deputy National Commissioner Tabello Mosikili stated that the disaggregated data was included in the crime report, an assertion later echoed by National Commissioner Fannie Masemola in a separate meeting on 20 June. Masemola reportedly contradicted himself during the session, before repeating the same falsehood.
'The fact remains: SAPS failed to report any data specifically relating to women and children in its latest crime stats,' said Schickerling.
Schickerling also pointed to the inconsistency between the SAPS' public statements about GBV being a national priority and its failure to transparently report key statistics.
'If the SAPS claims that GBV is a national priority, then its failure to report key data transparently tells a different story. You cannot fight what you refuse to measure. Women and children in South Africa deserve more than platitudes. They deserve facts, integrity, and a police service that takes their safety seriously,' she said.
Public trust 'undermined by omission'
The outcry has not been limited to political circles. Ilitha Labantu, a non-profit organisation dedicated to supporting survivors of violence and promoting justice for women and children, also issued a strong statement condemning the data omission.
'The absence of disaggregated data on murder, attempted murder, and assault with intent to cause grievous bodily harm significantly weakens the national response to gender-based violence and femicide,' the organisation said.
'This is not a matter of oversight. It reflects a deeper institutional failure to respond with transparency and urgency to one of the most pressing human rights issues facing our country.'
Ilitha Labantu emphasised the human cost of the omission. Between January and March 2025 alone, 966 women and 314 children were murdered in South Africa, figures the organisation says must not be hidden or forgotten.
'These are not just numbers. They are lives lost in a context of systemic violence, and to exclude this information from official reporting is to erase the experiences of victims and survivors,' the statement read.
The organisation called for an immediate correction of the crime statistics report and urged Parliament to ensure that future reports include a full, transparent, and accurate breakdown of crimes against women and children.
'Reliable, disaggregated data is fundamental to crafting evidence-based interventions, allocating resources, and holding institutions accountable. Without it, public trust erodes, policy responses become symbolic, and the violence continues unchecked,' said the organisation.
'The fight for justice begins with truth,' Ilitha Labantu concluded. 'We cannot address this crisis in silence or in darkness. The rights, dignity, and safety of women and children must not be erased in the process.'
In response to questions from Daily Maverick, national police spokesperson Brigadier Athlenda Mathe said the SAPS routinely published quarterly and annual crime statistics, including figures related to crimes against women and children, specifically murder, attempted murder, and assault with intent to inflict grievous bodily harm (GBH). These figures are based on data from case dockets and the Crime Administration System (CAS), and rely on the accurate recording of victims' age and sex, as well as correct linkage between victims and charges.
Before the release of the fourth quarter and preliminary annual statistics for the 2024/25 financial year, the SAPS' Component Crime Registrar conducted a review of the data. According to Mathe, the review uncovered significant anomalies in the subset relating to women and children.
'Discrepancies were identified between the sum of quarterly data and the annual totals, which could not be reconciled. Duplication of crime counts was observed, resulting in inflated figures where the subset (women and children) exceeded the total population of victims. Data integrity issues were traced to inconsistencies in victim-linking and demographic recording,' she said.
As a result of these issues, the SAPS leadership made the decision to halt the release of the disaggregated statistics and remove previously published figures from the SAPS website
'The national commissioner has directed the relevant stakeholders to urgently investigate and resolve the identified data challenges. This process is currently under way, and the statistics on crimes against women and children will be reinstated once the data has been corrected and validated. The revised statistics will be accompanied by a detailed explanation of the nature and implications of the revisions,' she said. DM