Stats SA: Most crime still occurring in people's homes

Statistician General Pali Lehohla released the victims of crime survey on Thursday.

Lehohla says the good news is those type of crimes are on the decrease. 

"Approximately 7% households in South Africa were victims of crime in 2016/17, compared to 9% households in 2015/16. The estimated number of incidents also decreased for many types of crime," Lehohla says. 

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Housebreaking incidents have also decreased by 8%, home robbery by 25% while the theft of personal property is down by 12%. 

However, hijacking and sexual offences are on the increase. 

Lehohla says estimates of hijacking and sexual offences should be used cautiously due to the small number of respondents that experienced those crimes. 

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A total of 1,5 million incidents of crime were experienced by approximately 1.2 million households in 2016/17. 

"A comparison of crime types shows that housebreaking was the most common crime experienced by households in 2016/17, followed by theft of livestock and home  robbery.  Theft of personal property tops the individual crime list at 42%, followed by assault and robbery," Lehohla says.