GOOD NEWS AND BAD

This report analyzes public opinion surveys from Idasa and Afrobarometer conducted in South Africa since 1994 to compare citizen experiences of crime and policing against official statistics. While public perceptions of overall safety and government performance in fighting crime have improved since 2000, trust in the South African Police Service (SAPS) is undermined by high perceived and actual levels of corruption and poor user-friendliness.

• Public prioritization of crime as a top government concern has decreased significantly, falling from 65% in the run-up to the 1999 election to 23% in 2006. Crime has dropped from being the second most prominent problem to a statistical third place, ranking behind housing (28%), poverty (27%), and HIV/AIDS (25%).
• There is a substantial gap between official police statistics and the reported experiences of citizens. For example, a 2004 survey where 19% of respondents reported physical attacks suggests a rate of approximately 13,000 assaults per 100,000 population, whereas official 2003/04 statistics for assaults, rape, and attempted murders recorded only 739 per 100,000.
• Public perceptions of safety and government performance are improving. In 2006, 36% of South Africans felt the government was handling crime "fairly" or "very well," an increase from 18% six years prior. Additionally, 51% of respondents reported feeling insecure in their home in the last 12 months in 2006, compared to 61% in 2000.
• Trust in the South African Police Service (SAPS) increased from 35% in 2000 to 48% in early 2006, yet it remains one of the least trusted state institutions, ranking above only local councils and opposition parties.
• The SAPS is perceived as having poor community relations and high levels of corruption. In 2006, 49% of respondents found it difficult to get help from the police, and 48% believed that "all" or "most" police officials were involved in corruption—the highest rate among ten types of public servants.
• Actual experiences of police corruption vary significantly by province. While 10% of all adult South Africans reported being asked for a bribe by police in the past 12 months, the rates were 0% in the Free State, 2% in the Northern Cape, 13% in KwaZulu-Natal, 17% in Gauteng, and 20% in Limpopo.
• While views on policing do not significantly impact overall support for democracy, they do influence satisfaction with how democracy works. Citizens are more likely to be satisfied with democracy if they trust the police, find them easy to deal with, and feel safer than in the past.

APA

Mattes, R. (2006). GOOD NEWS AND BAD. Institute for Security Studies. https://issafrica.s3.amazonaws.com/site/uploads/CQ18MATTES.PDF

Chicago

Mattes, Robert. GOOD NEWS AND BAD. Institute for Security Studies, 2006. https://issafrica.s3.amazonaws.com/site/uploads/CQ18MATTES.PDF.

Wikipedia

{{cite report |last1=Mattes |first1=Robert |title=GOOD NEWS AND BAD |publisher=Institute for Security Studies |date=December 2006 |url=https://issafrica.s3.amazonaws.com/site/uploads/CQ18MATTES.PDF |access-date=17 August 2026 |via=Climate Insights Directory}}

BibTeX

@techreport{mattes2006good, author = {Mattes, Robert}, title = {{GOOD NEWS AND BAD}}, institution = {Institute for Security Studies}, year = {2006}, month = dec, url = {https://issafrica.s3.amazonaws.com/site/uploads/CQ18MATTES.PDF}, urldate = {2026-08-17}, note = {Indexed by Climate Insights Directory} }