Limpopo Police Set to Reveal Quarterly Crime Figures as National Murder Rate Drops 8.7%

The spotlight turns to Polokwane today as Limpopo’s top police officials prepare to unveil the province’s crime statistics for the third quarter of the 2025/26 financial year.

Provincial Commissioner Lieutenant General Thembi Hadebe, alongside MEC for Transport and Community Safety Violet Mathye, will present the data covering October to December 2025 at a media briefing scheduled for 11 am at the Landank Building on Schoeman Street .

National Context: Progress and Caution

The provincial release follows last week’s national crime statistics announcement by Acting Police Minister Professor Firoz Cachalia, which painted a cautiously optimistic picture at the national level .

Nationally, the murder rate fell by 8.7% , with 602 fewer lives lost compared to the same period the previous year. Overall violent crime dropped by 6.7% , translating to 12,682 fewer cases reported to the South African Police Service .

Five provinces recorded double-digit declines in murder cases: KwaZulu-Natal, Gauteng, Mpumalanga, Free State, and North West. Smaller decreases were registered in the Western Cape and Eastern Cape .

However, Cachalia struck a note of caution: “While we welcome the declines in most categories of violent and property crime, overall levels remain unacceptably high” .

Limpopo’s Position

The national data contained a noteworthy detail for Limpopo: while most provinces saw murder reductions, Limpopo and the Northern Cape recorded slight increases in murder cases during the quarter . This places additional significance on today’s provincial briefing.

Sexual offences remain a persistent concern. Data from the first two quarters of the financial year showed sexual offences rising by 7.1% in the second quarter, driven largely by gender-based violence and domestic abuse . At the time, Hadebe noted that “domestic-related cases remain among the most difficult crimes to detect and prevent because they happen behind closed doors” .

Despite these challenges, the province has recorded notable successes. Recent operations under Operation Shanela (Kukula) 2 a high-density, intelligence-driven strategyhave yielded significant results, including major drug busts and counterfeit goods crackdowns . In December 2025 alone, 1,525 suspects were arrested during a single week of intensified operations .

What to Expect

According to Limpopo SAPS spokesperson Brigadier Hlulani Mashaba, today’s briefing will outline key crime patterns recorded during the quarter, highlight progress made in combating serious and violent crimes, and detail ongoing interventions aimed at strengthening safety across the province .

Persistent hotspots such as Thohoyandou, Mankweng, Seshego, and Maake remain on the police watchlist . Thohoyandou, in particular, has faced challenges linked to its proximity to the Zimbabwe border, which sees high movement of people, including undocumented foreign nationals .

The province has also had to confront criminality within its own ranks. In October 2025, four Limpopo SAPS members were arrested in Mpumalanga in connection with a house robbery involving Ethiopian nationalsa case that drew strong condemnation from Hadebe, who warned that “anyone engaging in corrupt acts will swap their blue uniform to orange” .

The Bigger Picture

Today’s briefing forms part of ongoing efforts to keep the public informed about crime patterns and police responses . It also reflects a broader national strategy to coordinate crime-fighting across all spheres of government. Cachalia has announced plans for a meeting of provincial heads of community safety on 6 March to better coordinate operations in high-crime precincts .

The minister also revealed plans for a national community patroller programme, training and paying community members to help improve safety in areas such as schools and transport hubs .

For Limpopo, the question is whether the province can reverse the slight upward tick in murders and address the persistent challenge of sexual offences while building on the successes of targeted operations. Today’s numbers will provide the first indication.

{Source: IOL}

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