MEDIA RELEASE
2025-02-21
SUMMARY: The Labour Party of South Africa (Labour Party) holds the African National Congress (ANC), now part of the Government of National Unity (GNU), directly responsible for South Africa’s escalating crime and unemployment crisis after nearly three decades in power. Despite marginal statistical shifts, violent crime remains at war-like levels, while under-reporting continues to conceal the true extent of victimisation, particularly in cases of Gender-Based Violence and domestic abuse. The Party further points to deep institutional decay exposed by the Madlanga Commission of Inquiry, the suspension of the current Minister of Police under serious allegations, and the irony of the ANC expanding digital surveillance powers while failing to guarantee basic safety and accountability.
The South African Police Service (SAPS) released its third-quarter crime statistics for the 2025/26 financial year, covering the period 1 October to 31 December 2025. According to the official figures, reported murder declined by 8,7% compared with the same quarter in the previous financial year, while overall contact crime also recorded a decrease.
Certain categories of robbery and assault similarly reflected reported year-on-year changes.
“These figures must be understood in context,” said Joseph Mathunjwa, interim President of the Labour Party. “After nearly thirty years in power, the ANC and their GNU cannot celebrate marginal shifts while South Africa remains one of the most violent societies in the world. Every day, between 60 and 70 South Africans are murdered. That daily toll rivals the loss of life in active war zones such as Russia and Ukraine and the conflict inGaza. A country at peace should not be burying its people at a rate that mirrors war”, Mathunjwa said.
The statistics indicate that violent crime remains concentrated in specific provinces and police station precincts, with persistent hotspots in both metropolitan and rural areas.
Assault with intent to cause grievous bodily harm, robbery with aggravating circumstances and carjacking continue to record substantial absolute numbers despite reported shifts.
“The ANC has presided over the erosion of policing standards, cadre deployment within security institutions and the weakening of accountability mechanisms” , Mathunjwa continued. “For more than three decades, the ANC governed alone and now, through their marriage of convenience, the GNU inherits and now carries responsibility for reversing that decay. Communities are living with the consequences of those political decisions” , he pointed out.
Official crime statistics reflect only those cases formally reported to SAPS. Statistics South Africa’s victimisation surveys have consistently shown that a significant proportion of crimes, particularly sexual offences and domestic violence, are not reported to law enforcement authorities. Fear, stigma and lack of confidence in investigations remain major barriers.
“When citizens no longer believe that SAPS will act decisively, crimes go unreported,” said Mathunjwa. “Under ANC governance, public trust in law enforcement has been steadily undermined, and SAPS is not seen as a trustworthy or reliable protector of the people as it was before” , he said.
The issue is particularly severe in relation to Gender-Based Violence and Femicide. South Africa continues to record extremely high levels of violence against women and children.
While quarterly figures may fluctuate, long-term patterns demonstrate that the state’s prevention and protection systems remain insufficient.
“Women are being attacked and killed while the ruling party offers task teams and speeches,” Mathunjwa stated. “Gender-Based Violence demands systemic reform, not symbolic gestures. South Africans are tired of this ANC’s avoidance of proper legal consequence management by establishing costly task teams and commissions of inquiry”, he added.
Femicide reflects failures across policing, protection orders, investigative capacity and prosecution. Administrative backlogs and weak enforcement mechanisms continue to expose victims to danger.
“A country that cannot protect its women and children cannot claim moral authority,” Mathunjwa said.
Beyond individual crimes, structural drivers including unemployment above 30%, illegal firearms circulation, organised criminal networks and collapsing local governance have flourished during decades of ANC rule. The weakening of institutions through corruption and political patronage has further compromised state capacity.
The Commission of Inquiry into Criminality, Political Interference and Corruption in the Criminal Justice System, chaired by retired Justice Mbuyiseli Madlanga (better known as the “Madlanga Commission”), has been hearing testimony since late 2025 about alleged corruption, political interference and possible criminal syndicate infiltration of law enforcement institutions.
In its interim report, the Madlanga Commission made several referrals for further criminal investigation and recommended precautionary suspension of senior officials implicated in these allegations, including high-ranking police officers. The creation of a special task team to investigate those named by the Commission reflects the ongoing effort to probe these serious concerns, even as suspended current Police Minister Senzo Mchunu remains on special leave pending allegations of corruption and interference in the safety and security cluster.
“This Madlanga Commission was established precisely because the rot within our justice and policing structures could not be ignored, yet it is deeply ironic that the very Minister of Police who now stands suspended under a cloud of allegations once presided over the collapse in law enforcement discipline and accountability,” said Mathunjwa. “If we are to restore integrity and safety in this country, not only must individual wrongdoing be addressed, but we must confront the political culture that enabled it to flourish” , he said.
In his 2026 State of the Nation Address (SONA), President Cyril Ramaphosa announced that government will roll out a national digital identity (digital ID) system in 2026.
Government has presented the initiative as a tool for efficiency and inclusion, although questions remain regarding data protection, implementation safeguards and the broader implications for civil liberties.
“This is another form of tyranny, control and state monitoring. It is evil and devilish in its essence”, Mathunjwa said. “South Africans are already living under a government that cannot guarantee their safety or protect their dignity. The ANC cannot be entrusted with greater surveillance powers over the private lives and personal data of our people while corruption and institutional decay continue under its watch” , he said.
The Labour Party, in its adopted policy frameworks, is advocating for a decisive rebuilding of South Africa’s security institutions through merit-based recruitment, modernised police academies, strengthened detective and forensic capacity, and the firm depoliticisation of the SAPS.
In its Seven Steps to a New Tomorrow document, the Party commits itself to restoring professionalism, expanding court capacity and ensuring measurable accountability within law enforcement. The Labour Party advances a federal democratic model in which defined policing competencies may be exercised at provincial (or federal state) level to ensure responsiveness and local accountability. Public safety must be performance-driven and insulated from party-political interference.
“The ANC has had three decades to protect the people against crime. South Africans deserve a government that protects them, not one that manages decline and presides over corruption and destruction of our public institutions”, Mathunjwa concluded.
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