News24 | Murders down, but still at 63 a day, crime stats show

Police Minister Firoz Cachalia released the quaterly crime stats on Friday.

• Murders have decreased, according to the latest quarterly crime statistics.
• However, there were still more than 11 500 murders over the six-month period.
• The province with the highest murder rate is the Eastern Cape.

Murders in South Africa have decreased year-on-year, but there were still 63 people killed on average every day between April and September.

On Friday, the police released the quarterly crime statistics from the first and second quarters of their financial year. The statistics showed that murders dropped by 6.5% for the first quarter (April to June), with 5 770 murders recorded. In the second quarter (July to September), murders decreased by 11.5%, with 5 794 murders reported.

The statistics revealed that the province with the highest murder rate between July and September was the Eastern Cape, with 15 murders for every 100 000 people. From April to June, the Eastern Cape had 16.5 murders per 100 000 people.

For the six-month period, the Western Cape recorded 15 murders for every 100 000 people. KwaZulu-Natal had 10, and Gauteng had eight.

The province with the highest number of murders over the six-month period was Gauteng, with 2 872 cases reported (25% of the total). This was followed by KwaZulu-Natal, with 2 388 cases (21%).

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The most common causative factors for murders were arguments/misunderstandings, followed by robberies and gang violence.

The Western Cape was the only province in which gang violence resulted in more murders than other causative factors, with at least 293 gang-related murders recorded between July and September, and 282 reported between April and June.

The Western Cape recorded the highest number of murders with more than one victim (228 people were killed in 100 incidents), followed by Gauteng, in which 191 people were killed in 75 incidents during July and September.

This is the first time that extortion has been included in the quarterly crime statistics as a separate category – a move that the police said caused a delay in issuing the statistics.

On Friday, police detailed how the bulk of the cases are financial extortion, including assassinations, ransom demands, threats and intimidation. At least 250 cases of financial extortion were reported between July and September. The bulk of these cases took place in Gauteng, with at least 87 cases reported.

Protection rackets accounted for at least 125 cases of extortion, with 54 of those taking place in the Western Cape.

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The targets of protection rackets were primarily taxi-related, followed by spaza shops and the construction sector.

During the briefing, Police Minister Firoz Cachalia said: “I want you to know that I understand and respect your worries about the lack of security. I know what it feels like to be mugged in the streets, to be raided in one’s home, and my heart goes out to those whose lives have been shattered when their loved ones are killed, injured, and traumatised as a result of violent crime.”

He added that the two quarters had shown “significant declines in most crime categories”.

“Importantly, we are seeing ongoing and significant reductions in serious and violent crime, but at a high level,” he said.

“Murder has started to decrease significantly, particularly in the last two years, and that is often a very good indicator of crime trends.”

However, Cachalia said, there were categories that “remain stubbornly high”, including sexual offences, gender-based violence, and commercial crime.