The historic town where crime could peak this year

But Ladysmith is unique in that crime in the area has risen 30.1% since 2019.

Last year, crime in the town overtook its 2013 peak after 4 consecutive years of rising crime.

Crime has increased every year since 2020 in this farming town

During the COVID-19 pandemic, when crime in many South African towns declined, crime in Ladysmith only decreased 8.7% from its previous all-time low in 2018.

Then in 2021, crime started rising again.

Crime has been rising ever since and peaked during the 2025-2026 period, which ended in March this year.

What’s worse: in the first quarter of this year, between April and June, crime rose 3.6%.

If this trend continues, crime in Ladysmith will surpass last year’s record.

In the uThukela District Municipality, Ladysmith recorded the most crime, nearly three times as much as the second police precinct: Estcourt.

Ladysmith still managed this position despite crime in Estcourt rising 45.1% in the first quarter.

Drug-related crime in the area is up 28.7%, while arrests for driving under the influence of alcohol and drugs are up by 491%.

Ladysmith is also part of a scary pattern affecting South Africa’s farming and historical towns: drug crime increases and so do other crimes.

Will unemployment make things worse?

Those in authority rarely want to admit the connection between unemployment and crime.

Yet crime is most persistent in areas with a large unemployed population.

Ladysmith, part of the Alfred Duma Local Municipality, meets this standard.

According to data from the South African Social Security Agency (SASSA), the Alfred Duma Local Municipality recorded 64 898 beneficiaries receiving the Social Relief of Distress (SRD) grant.

The grant is limited to people receiving less than R670 a month.

Ladysmith, as part of the Alfred Duma Local Municipality, had the fifth-highest number of beneficiaries in KwaZulu-Natal.

According to National Treasury, unemployment in the municipality stood at 34% in 2022, higher than the national unemployment rate at the time.