ISS: Leadership challenges hampering crime fighting efforts
A steady rise in murder and armed robbery shows police are not getting to grips with serious violent crime in South Africa.
That's according to the Institute for Security Studies (ISS).
The ISS says this is largely due to inappropriate political interference in the police.
Its comments come after the release of the 2016/17 crime statistics in Parliament on Tuesday.
Senior researcher at the ISS, Johan Burger, says police on the ground are working hard, however, their ability to make a difference is being weakened by leadership challenges.
The police released the country's crime stats for 1 April 2016 to 31 March 2017.
Murder
A total of 19 016 people were murdered during this period.
The murder rate hiked marginally from 34.1 to 34.2 per 100 000 people.
On average 52 people have been killed in South Africa every day.
Robbery
The number of robberies reported has declined when compared to the previous year.
In 2016/17, 53 418 common robberies were recorded. This is down from 54 110.
During the period under review, 22 343 house robberies were recorded - that's 61 households robbed each day in South Africa.
Hijacking
