Nearly 70,000 people arrested in South Africa’s Western Cape in three months
Police in South Africa’s Western Cape province made 69,726 arrests and seized 610 firearms between April and June 2026. At the same time, several police stations in Cape Town remain among the country’s 30 most crime-ridden stations based on 17 categories of community-reported serious crimes, TimesLIVE reports.
Arrests and firearm seizures
The figures cover the first quarter of the 2026/2027 financial year. Arrests were made in cases involving, among other offences, burglary, malicious damage to property, vehicle theft, rape, murder, as well as unlawful possession of firearms and ammunition.
Western Cape Police Commissioner Lieutenant General Sizakhele Dyantyi said detectives handling serious violent crime cases continued investigations related to extortion, gangs and kidnappings for ransom. According to him, an operation against extortion in the intercity bus transport sector led to the arrest of individuals linked to the taxi industry in three provinces. Their case is before the court.
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Crime situation in Cape Town
According to police data, the number of registered serious crimes in 17 community-reported categories in the province decreased by 4.3% compared with April-June 2025. A decline was recorded in all six districts of the province. Contact crimes fell by 6.3%, murders by 6.7%, vehicle thefts by 14.6%, and residential robberies by 15%.
At the same time, six Western Cape police stations were included in the nationwide list of 30 police stations for 17 categories of serious crimes: Cape Town Central, Mitchells Plain, Mfuleni, Delft, Kraaifontein and Stellenbosch. Most of them are located in the City of Cape Town district. Another eight police stations in the province ranked in the top 30 for contact crimes; all except Worcester are located in the Cape Town district.
