By Marcus Moloko
South Africa’s latest crime statistics painted a harrowing picture, with nearly 200 rapes recorded on school grounds in the first two quarters of the 2025–2026 reporting year, an indication of the collapse of safety in spaces meant to protect children.
The latest crime stats confirmed the reason for marches, where protesters called for President Cyril Ramaphosa to declare gender based violence a national disaster.
A shocking revelation in the statistics, which were released last week, was the almost 200 rapes committed on school grounds between April and September 2025.
Political parties warned that schools were increasingly becoming sites of violent trauma.
The Democratic Alliance had previously described schools as a “bloodbath,” citing murders, assaults, and rapes within educational institutions.
“Between October and December last year, there were 7 murders, 24 attempted murders, 252 cases of assault/grievous bodily harm (GBH), and 61 rapes on the premises of schools, universities, colleges, day care/after care facilities,” the party said in a statement.
Fast forward to the current stats, and Action SA’s MP Dereleen James insisted that crime stats were not mere numbers but essential tools for policy decisions and public oversight.
James warned that the country was being captured by rampant lawlessness as murder, GBV, and gang-related killings continued to escalate.
She reiterated how the statistics painted a grim picture of a nation under siege and said that the release coincided with the 16 Days of Activism Against Gender-Based Violence, yet the data showed that GBV had increased across both quarters.
“Even schools are not being spared. Almost 200 rapes were recorded on school grounds during this period,” James said.
The party noted the delayed release of the 2025/2026 first and second quarter crime stats to argue that they revealed how GBV had increased across both quarters, confirming that vulnerable South Africans continued to face escalating danger in communities across the country.
James said ActionSA had continuously raised the alarm on escalating gang violence in the Western Cape, which had continued to rise, with data indicating 282 gang-related murders between April and June, followed by 293 between July and September, “making [it] clear that communities remain dangerously vulnerable to warring gangs”.
“In Cape Town, the picture becomes even more troubling. Four of the top five murder stations in the country fall within the city, making clear that it remains the epicentre of a deeper failure to end the violence terrorising forgotten communities.”
She said the delayed release of the crime stats inspired little confidence that government remained properly capacitated to deal with violent crime.
“[I]t is increasingly clear that South Africa has been captured by rampant lawlessness,” she said.
The latest crime stats showed that sexual offences remained high, with rape cases on the rise despite years of activism.
While civil society groups such as Women For Change, behind the nationwide shutdown, welcomed Ramaphosa’s declaration of GBV as a national disaster, activists said that government had failed to translate declarations into meaningful interventions.
Education unions and child protection organisations had demanded stronger safety measures, including the automatic inclusion of abusive educators in the Child Protection Register and the provision of psycho-social support in high-risk areas.
In August 2025, social justice group Section27 said School Governing Bodies (SGB), provincial and national departments of education, teacher unions, and policy makers needed to be unified in fighting a battle of violence seen in schools, as they were mirrors of deep-rooted issues facing society.
“In South Africa, high levels of gender-based violence, poverty, unemployment, and substance abuse create an environment where violence can take root and spread. This reflects within schools where we see both learner-on-learner violence and violence perpetrated by adults on learners.
“To truly make our schools safe for learners and teachers, the various stakeholders within our education system responsible for implementing policies need to play their role,” said Section27.
INSIDE EDUCATION
