South Africa’s crime statistics for the third quarter of 2023 show that people continue to face a serious problem of violent crime, especially murder and attempted murder. The country’s per capita murder rate for 2022/23 was the highest in 20 years at 45 per 100,000 (a 50% increase compared to 2012/13). In Soshanguve’s Jukuly, in the North of Pretoria, no services can be rendered without a police escort. Crime syndicates have resulted in emergency services and other municipal service providers having to be escorted by police to access the area and courier companies withdrawing their door-to-door service, opting to make the police station their drop-off point. In response to this crisis, the South African Police Service has reconfigured its policing strategies and plans. Yet, these approaches offer very little innovation. They mostly reaffirm the way the police have typically pursued policing for the past three decades – fighting a “war” on crime and “sweeping away” criminals. In this conversation, we talk about why South Africa is losing the fight against crime. Crime Analyst and Former Head of the Crime Information Analysis Centre (CIAC) in the South African Police Service Dr Chris De Kok and Regional Chairperson of the SA National Civic Organisation (SANCO) in Tshwane Velaphi Khoza join Lerato Mbele for the conversation.