Children in the country aged up to six years are victims of almost all crimes, especially housebreaking, according to Statistics SA’s (Stats SA’s) latest Crime against Children report.
The Child Series Volume II: Crime against Children report released by Stats SA on Tuesday showed that households with children of 17 years and younger experienced high levels of crime.
Some 71.3% of children have experienced some form of housebreaking or burglary, 40.2% witnessed home robberies, and in Gauteng in particular, 51.2% of children had experienced theft of motor vehicles.
For areas such as the Western Cape, the most prominent crime experienced by 24.5% of children was assault.
The biggest concern for stakeholders was that children coming from extended households were more likely to be crime victims compared to other household structures.
In the 2021/22 period, almost 45% of households with children experienced or witnessed some form of violence.
During this period, the provinces with the highest percentages of violence against children were KwaZulu-Natal with 69.3% and Limpopo with 51.6%.
Some 48.2% of assault cases were committed by individuals known to the child, in particular people such as relatives, household members, friends, acquaintances, a spouse or intimate partner.
The most common weapons used by those perpetrating crimes against children were knives, especially during home invasions.
The report said: “The results have shown that crime is a major problem in South Africa affecting children regardless of gender, age, population group and geographical areas.
“In 2022/23 the results have revealed that households with children in non-metropolitan areas were more likely to encounter crime than households situated in metropolitan areas, except for theft of motor vehicles (68.9%) and home robbery (50.7%), which were highly experienced by households in the metropolitan areas.”
From the period 2015 to 2020, it was found that males experienced more instances of common robbery, assault entailing grievous bodily harm (GBH), common assault, attempted murder, and murder than females.
Females experienced more cases of child trafficking, abduction, sexual assault, rape and attempted common robbery.
Most reported cases of assault involvingh GBH for children aged 17 years and younger were recorded in Waterberg, Greater Sekhukhune, City of Tshwane, Bojanala, Metsweding, Nkangala, West Rand, Sedibeng, Fezile Dabi and Dr Kenneth Kaunda districts, while common assault cases were more common at Overberg district.
According to the GPSJS data, in 2022/23, males aged 17 years and younger were more prone to any form of assault compared to their female counterparts, with males accounting for 56.0%, while females constituted 44.1%.
The Star