Crimes related to public safety and state security are the most common in Zimbabwe, according to the Zimbabwe National Statistics Agency (ZIMSTAT), which reported an increase in crime acts from July to September compared to April to June.
Other offences recorded include acts against property, acts leading to harm or intending to cause harm, acts against public order, authority, and State provisions, as well as sexual offences, drug-related offences, and murder.
ZIMSTAT Acting Director-General Mationesa Phiri said police recorded 65 173 crimes against public safety and state security out of a total 182 427 offences recorded during the third quarter of the year which runs from July to September 2023.
The total 182 427 cases is a 2.5 percent increase from 178 031 offences recorded in the second quarter, that is April to June.
From July to September, the crime rate for offences committed against public order and state security was 429.4 per 100 000 population, and this was an increase from 373.8 per 100 000 recorded in the second quarter of 2023.
“Of the 182 427 cases recorded in the third quarter of 2023, crimes against public safety and state security were the most common with 65 173 cases being recorded,” Phiri said.
The second most common type of crime recorded was acts against property only, with 49 539 cases.
Acts leading to harm or intending to cause harm to the person were 36 863 while the total number of persons charged by the police for all offences was 125 433, of which 88 percent were male.
Phiri said the rate for charged persons for all offences increased to 826.4 per 100 000 people from 802.1 in the previous quarter.
“The rate at which males were charged was 1 518.6 persons per 100 000 males, while it was 186.8 for females, using the same weight,” she said.
Zimbabwe’s national crime rate was 1 201.8 crimes committed per 100 000 people, implying that 1 202 crimes were committed for every 100 000 people between July and September.
This was an increase from the 1 172.9 crimes committed per 100 000 observed in the previous second quarter.
However in the first quarter of the year, that is from January to March, there were more offences recorded at 206 300 with a crime rate of 1 359.1.
The ZIMSTAT official confirmed that the Zimbabwean community has of late experienced more incidences of crime that include theft, robbery, sexual offences, drug-related crimes and murder.
“Such vices leave society entangled with emotional, psychological and physical damage. In addition, acts of crime may result in tensions within families, financial losses, expenditures on private deterrence, mental disorders and loss of life,” Phiri said.
“At Government level, expenditures associated with law enforcement and criminal justice are incurred at the expense of social service delivery. To this end, the production of crime statistics informs policy development and planning in the criminal justice system.”
Phiri also noted that crime statistics further expose crime trends in communities thereby enabling law enforcement arms to develop strategic interventions to curtail growth in crime rates.
“The information contained in this publication is based on data collected from the Zimbabwe Republic Police (ZRP) Crime Report and Disposal System. The crime statistics herein are aggregated based on the United Nations International Classification of Crime for Statistical Purposes (ICCS) adopted in 2016,” she said.
“The ICCS provides a framework for the systematic production and comparison of statistical data across different criminal justice institutions and jurisdictions. We acknowledge that the information on crime presented in this publication is not exhaustive due to limitations on recorded data.”
