Gauteng’s overall contact crime decreased by 3%: Police Commissioner

Gauteng police say a coordinated approach involving law enforcement, government, businesses and communities is helping in the fight against crime in the province.

Gauteng Police Commissioner Tommy Mthombeni is presenting the provincial crime statistics in Sandton, Johannesburg.

He says police also recovered 282 firearms, nearly 6000 rounds of ammunition and 144 stolen or hijacked vehicles.

Mthombeni says Operation Shanela 2 resulted in thousands of arrests.

He says overall contact crime decreased by 3% while property-related crime dropped by 2.7% and gender-based violence and femicide declined by 9.1%.

According to Mthombeni, attempted murder and assault remain a concern.

“Successes achieved through Operation Shanela 2 are true.

The total number of arrests is 88 584, of which 14 256 of them were illegal immigrants.

148 of those arrested were for murder.

279 of those arrested were for robberies.

1 649 of those arrested were for assault with intent to cause serious bodily harm and 1 296, again, were arrests for common assaults.” VISUALS | Gauteng police Commissioner Lieutenant-General Tommy Mthombeni says crime fighting in the province needs cooperation between police, government, businesses and also communities.

For more visit https://t.co/N9V5BF4stZ pic.twitter.com/nPa1Xs3JNv — SABC News (@SABCNews) September 11, 2026