EARTH · VERIFIED CONFLICT RECORD

Conflict in South Africa

NOT LIVE · SOUTH AFRICA RECORD RUNS 8 MAR 2024 4 MAY 2026

This is a verified record, not a live feed. UCDP hand-codes every event from published sources, which takes weeks — the newest event here is from 2026-05-31. For what is happening right now, LEV’s Global Incidents layer carries the machine-coded newswire at about fifteen minutes’ delay.

Between 8 Mar 2024 and 4 May 2026, researchers at Uppsala University hand-coded 40 events of organised violence in South Africa from published sources. Their best estimate is 62 people killed — and their own range runs 61–62, which is the honest width of what anyone actually knows.

What the record holds

DEATHS RECORDED · UCDP BEST ESTIMATE62

UCDP range 61–62.

EVENTS40

40 placed precisely enough to map.

Who was doing the killing

Non-state35 events · 57 killedTwo armed groups fight each other and neither is a government — militias, cartels, communal violence.
One-sided5 events · 5 killed (UCDP range 4–5)An armed group or government kills civilians who are not fighting back.

The conflicts behind the events

Unidentified actors39
UCDP low and high agree · 23 ev
CATA - Codeta16
UCDP low and high agree · 10 ev
Government of South Africa - Civilians5
4–5 · 5 ev
Black Axe - SVC1
UCDP low and high agree · 1 ev
The Americans gang - Fancy Boys Gang1
UCDP low and high agree · 1 ev

Where UCDP had not yet established an actor’s identity it records a placeholder rather than a name; those appear here as “unidentified actor”.

The deadliest single event on record

6 JUN 2025 · CAPE TOWN CITY4 killed

UCDP's low and high agree on this figure. UCDP's low and high estimates are both 4 — the sources agree.

CATA - Codeta · non-state violence — two armed groups fight each other and neither is a government — militias, cartels, communal violence.

South Africa, elsewhere on LiveEarthViewer

Source

Uppsala Conflict Data Program, Uppsala University — UCDP GED v26.1 + UCDP Candidate v26_0_1..v26_0_5, released under CC BY 4.0. Coverage ends 31 May 2026. UCDP records South Africa under the name “South Africa”. Every figure on this page is UCDP’s, aggregated and labelled — none is modelled or estimated by LEV.