Nearly 20,000 GBVF reports in 2025–26 did not lead to arrests or NPA referrals

South Africa recorded 50,511 gender-based violence and femicide (GBVF) cases in the 2025–26 financial year, but only 30,736 of those were recorded as resulting in arrests and/or referrals to the National Prosecuting Authority (NPA), leaving 19,775 reports without recorded further action, a parliamentary reply has shown.

Source of figures and what they cover

The figures were provided in a written reply to Gugulethu Mchunu, a member of the portfolio committee on women, youth and persons with disabilities, by the acting minister of police, Firoz Cachalia.

According to the reply, the term gender-based violence and femicide (GBVF) includes murder, attempted murder, rape, sexual assault, abduction, assault with intent to do grievous bodily harm, common assault, attempted rape and contact sexual offences.

The figures come from cases reported to the South African Police Service (Saps) and do not necessarily represent the full extent of gender-based violence, as many incidents remain unreported said Cachalia.

National and provincial totals

The provincial breakdown in the reply shows KwaZulu-Natal recorded the most GBVF cases, with 9,412 reports, followed by Gauteng with 8,933 and the Western Cape with 7,951. Other provincial totals were: Eastern Cape 7,638; Limpopo 4,211; Free State 3,430; North West 3,407; Mpumalanga 3,391; Northern Cape 2,138.

Cases that led to arrests or prosecution referrals

Overall, police recorded 30,736 cases as resulting in arrests and/or referral to the NPA. The reply does not separate how many of those were arrests and how many were referrals.

By province, the numbers recorded as resulting in arrests and/or referrals were: KwaZulu-Natal 5,597; Western Cape 5,344; Gauteng 4,602; Eastern Cape 4,338; Northern Cape 1,659.

Offence breakdowns and recent quarterly data

Rape accounted for the largest share of reported offences in the 2025–26 figures, with 36,217 reports classified as rape. Sexual assault accounted for 6,495 cases, while murder was the smallest category at 37 cases.

Police data cited in the reply also show that of the 30,736 cases that led to arrests or referrals, 21,195 were rapes.

The most recent quarterly crime statistics quoted in the reply recorded 9,782 reported rapes nationally between January 2026 and March 2026.

What the reply does and does not show

The written response provides totals by offence and province and the combined number of cases that resulted in arrests or NPA referrals, but it does not disaggregate arrests from referrals. The combined figure means it is not possible, from this reply alone, to determine how many cases resulted solely in arrests, solely in referrals, or both.