“Ordinarily, this would have been catastrophic,” said police Minister Bheki Cele releasing South Africa’s quarterly crime statistics from April to June this year in Pretoria yesterday.
The horrific double digit jumps of the country’s rate of murder and rape show South Africa is losing its war against violent crime with 5 760 people killed and 10 006 people raped within just three months.
“But we cannot compare the same period of this year and last year, due to the skewed and abnormal crime trends caused by the different levels of lockdown,” he said. “While we will not sweep the high and unnatural figures under the carpet, we will instead bring a holistic picture of comparing the 2021/22 crime figures to a ’normal period’ two years ago where there was no lockdown.”
He insisted the 66.2% increase in murder when compared with that 2019/2020 was an increase of only 6.7% and the 72.4% increase in rape was 2.8% if comparison was made to the normal period before lockdown.
Attempted murder was up 47.5% with 5 145 cases, and assault GBH up 70.1% with 37 530 cases. Sexual offences jumped by 74.1%. Robbery with aggravated assault was up 56.8% with 33 876 cases and robbery jumped 65.4% with 10 701 cases.
Murder rates mean that of every 100 000 South Africans 9.5, people were killed, 16.6 were raped and 62.2 suffered assault GBH. Up from 5.8, 9.8 and 37.2 in April to June last year
Property crimes saw carjacking explode by 92.2% with 5 146 cases, truck hijacking by 107.6% with 411 cases, residential robbery by 33.3% and business robbery by 57.3%. Cash in transit heists were up 142.1% with 46 cases.
Arson was up 54.5%, theft of a motor vehicle 69.5% and commercial crime 55.7%. Drug related offences leapt by 68.6% or 31 648 cases, while driving under the influence of alcohol saw a 246.1% increase with 10 964 cases. The only two categories of crime that reduced over the period were stock theft (8%) and business burglary at 22.4%.
KZN again features as the worst province for murders with 1 404 people killed, an increase of 64% on the 856 killings in the previous cycle. Gauteng comes in second with 1 197 murders, a 77% increase, and the Eastern Cape third with 1 020. uMlazi was the worst policing precinct for murders with 73 people killed, followed by Plessislaer, outside Pietermaritzburg, with 68. Inanda was fourth while Mpumulanga, Ntuzuma, KwaDabeka, Eshowe and KwaMashu were all in the country’s 30 worst stations for murder.
During the period, 32 police members were killed, nine on duty and 23 off duty, compared with eight in the previous period, with 11 of them from KZN.
Most murders took place in a public place, but 1 385 were murdered in the home of either the victim or perpetrator.
Nowhere are the figures starker than in the area of crimes fuelled by alcohol, with an alcohol ban for much of April and May last year. Last year there were 32 alcohol related murders compared with 311 this year, nine attempted murders compared with 644, 61 rapes as opposed to 911, and 258 cases of assault GBH compared with 3 793 this cycle.
The 246% increase in drunk driving charges reflects the effect of the lockdown, where last year fewer people were allowed on the roads, and most had no alcohol to drink. KZN was third in the list of drunk driving offences with 1 483 cases, up 127%, but behind the Western Cape with 1 546 cases, up 262%, and Gauteng with 4 925, up 370%.
In terms of assault GBH, KZN was second with 6 258 cases, a 59.1% increase, behind Gauteng with 8 743 cases.
The province was third on the robbery list with 1 651 cases, a 72.3% increase, but behind Gauteng (3 814) and the Western Cape (2 028). But it came in at second for robbery with aggravating circumstances with 6 236 cases, up 64%. Gauteng recorded 12 491 such cases.
The province was also second with the number of carjackings at 820, an increase of 109%, compared with Gauteng’s 2 704 cases. uMlazi, Mariannhill and Pinetown were the worst areas for this crime.The majority (1 401) were in township settings compared with 1 081 in the suburbs, and 172 from inner city areas.
Residential robbery put KZN in second place with 1 275 cases compared with Gauteng’s 1 819, KwaDukuza being the worst area in the country. Business robberies follow the trend with 995 in KZN compared with 1 683 in Gauteng.
Rape in KZN was second-highest with 1 959 cases, up 68.9%, behind Gauteng (2 039) and ahead of the Eastern Cape (1 740). Of the country’s 10 006 rapes over this period, most (3 766) took place at the residence of either the victim or perpetrator, with 1 605 in public places and 106 on public transport. There were 31 rapes in educational institutions.
Domestic violence stats show that 89 women and 75 men were killed through domestic violence, with 453 women and 34 men raped. Domestic violence saw assault GBH cases involving 3 289 women and 1 316 men with assault cases for 8 725 women and 1 921 men.
Drug crimes saw a 72% increase with 4 577 cases, behind Gauteng (6 096) and the Western Cape (14 609, a 139% increase).
Farm incidents were up with 181 cases, including 15 murders, from 132 the previous period.
The Independent on Saturday
