Mchunu says crime ‘on the increase’ as latest stats released
Police Minister Senzo Mchunu says contact crimes, including murder, remain on the increase.
Mchunu released the crime stats for the period between April and June on Friday.
Contact crime increased by 2.6% overall, with more than 153,637 cases recorded for the three-month period.
"Crime is generally on the increase. Crimes that should worry us most are murder, rape, hijacking, kidnapping for ransom payments, and extortion,” said Mchunu.
He said four of the nine provinces recorded an increase in murder cases.
"Four of the nine provinces recorded increases in murder cases, with the highest increase recorded in the Western Cape, followed by North West, then the Eastern Cape and Limpopo.
"All the top 30 stations for murder were in only four provinces, namely Western Cape (11 stations), KwaZulu-Natal (eight stations), Eastern Cape (six stations) and Gauteng (five stations). The leading stations among them were Nyanga, followed by Inanda, Umlazi, Khayelitsha and Harare."
Almost 6,200 people were murdered during the period under review, a slight decrease for the quarter year-on-year.
There has also been an increase in the number of rape cases reported to authorities.
Reporting increased from 9,252 counts to 9,309.
