A total of 16 404 cases of assault by police officers were reported to South African authorities between the 2021/22 and 2025/26 financial years.

This is according to Acting Minister of Police Firoz Cachalia, who was responding to a written question from Rise Mzansi Member of Parliament (MP) Makashule Gana.

Cachalia revealed that the largest proportion of alleged assault cases involving police officers was in the Western Cape, at 3 664.

This was followed by Gauteng at 2 605 and the Free State at 2 109.

While there has been a decline in the number of cases at a national level, from 3 407 in 2021/22 to 3 147 in 2025/26, these figures remain high.

However, it should be noted that these statistics may not fully reflect the scale of the problem, as these crimes are often underreported, especially if members of the police have perpetrated them.

According to two academics, Masilo Mulaudzi and Radiakga Molokomme, from the Vaal University of Technology, who were writing in the International Journal of Innovative Research and Scientific Studies, a lack of trust in law enforcement plays a major role in the underreporting of crimes.

“In the South African context, situational factors such as victim fear of retaliation, limited awareness of reporting mechanisms, or lack of immediate protection from law enforcement contribute to crimes remaining unreported,” they argue.

Gana also asked the acting minister about the number of reports of people who had died in police custody, had died as a result of police action, or had been raped by police officers over the same period.

Assault accounted for the majority of the 20 237 reported incidents.

Deaths as a result of police action were the most common of the remaining categories, with 2 242 cases recorded, averaging between 400 and 500 a year.

These incidents were most prevalent in KwaZulu-Natal and Gauteng, with more than 100 deaths in each province every year.

Cachalia reported that there had been a total of 1 049 deaths of people in police custody, most commonly in Gauteng, with a significant number of cases in KwaZulu-Natal as well.

While the police minister’s response reported that only 542 cases of rape had been reported over the five years, this figure may also be significantly underreported.

As noted in Mulaudzi and Molokomme’s paper, “[Underreporting] is especially acute in crimes such as domestic violence, sexual offences, and corruption, where stigma and institutional apathy reinforce silence.”

As for investigations into these cases by the Independent Police Investigative Directorate (IPID), many take several years to resolve.

The minister said that reports of deaths in police custody are resolved the fastest, at an average of 209 days, followed by cases of rape by police officers at 270 days.

On the other hand, cases of assault by police officers and deaths as a result of police action take significantly longer, at an average of 915 days and 573 days, respectively.