Seven women and three children are killed every day in South Africa, police revealed on Thursday.
In addition, the rate of murder, rape and sexual assault was on the rise, while more South Africans were also victims of robbery.
More people were murdered in Gauteng, in the past financial year, than anywhere else in the country.
However, Nyanga in the Western Cape remains the murder capital of South Africa.
These bleak figures were released by Police Minister Bheki Cele, national police commissioner Khehla Sitole and his team as they presented the country’s crime statistics to Parliament’s police portfolio committee on Thursday morning.
South Africa’s murder rate is up 1.4 percent with some 57 people being murdered a day.
The total number of murders recorded were 21 022. This is 686 more than the previous reporting year.
According to the Institute of Race Relations, these levels were last seen in the early 2000s.
It highlighted that since the end of apartheid, about 500 000 South Africans have been murdered and about 1 million people have been raped.
“On a per capita basis, this rivals numbers seen in places such as war-torn Syria. It is no exaggeration to say that, on the basis of the number of people killed each year, South Africa is facing a crisis that is akin to a low-intensity civil war,” the IRR said.
The Western Cape’s murder rate went up from 3 729 to 3 974, sexual offences dropped by 32, from 7 075 to 7 043, attempted murder went up from 3 698 to
3 860, and assault with the intent to inflict grievous bodily harm (GBH) went from 28 583 to
24 488.
Cele said most murders in South Africa happened over weekends, which suggested that these were fuelled by alcohol and drug abuse.
POLICE MINISTER: Cele says stats are "better" than last year. Picture: African News Agency
He said a very high number of murder victims were killed by people whom they knew, hence these were not murders that may have been prevented by better policing.
Rape and sexual assault were also on the rise, showing a 4.6 percent increase compared to the previous year, and comes amid mounting pressure on President Cyril Ramaphosa to announce tougher measures to fight violence against women and children.
Despite showing declining figures, Nyanga remains the police station that recorded the highest number of murders in South Africa, followed by Delft and Khayelitsha.
Nyanga Community Policing Forum chairperson, Martin Makhasi, said cops need to be proactive and act before crimes are committed.
He says the community has begged for more visible policing.
According to him, there are 349 policemen to serve Nyanga’s 200 000-strong population.
He said they did not expect the army to have an impact: “The army is only deployed for three months and it would be absurd for us to expect them to perform miracles.”
A total of 289 murder cases were reported in Nyanga, compared to 308 the previous year.
SANDF members patrol the Cape Flats. Henk Kruger African News Agency (ANA)
The Democratic Alliance said the murder rate was at its highest in 10 years and the statistics on sexual offences proved that the SAPS were losing the battle against serious crimes.
The official opposition party called for immediate and “extreme” measures to tackle crime and “protect a nation that has been terrorised”.
An upbeat Cele said while the crime statistics were not looking good, they looked “much better” than last year.
He said a unit aimed at tracing the most wanted criminals in the country is set to be revived alongside other units which will help increase visible policing.
“There were things that were done properly that we need to go back to and putting new methods in dealing with crime,” Cele said.
However, the Head of the Justice and Violence Prevention programme at the Institute of Security Studies, Gareth Newham, says the SAPS statistics are almost six months out of date and do not reflect the current spate of high-profile violent crimes.
He said the data covers crimes committed in the financial year from 30 April 2018 and 31 March 2019.