South Africa’s murder rate was up 0.6 per cent, while the number of attempted murders was 6.5 per cent higher in the year to April, Police Minister, Nathi Mthethwa, said on Thursday.
There were also increases in commercial crime, car hijackings, robberies and drug-related crimes, compared to the previous year.
Sexual assault, which has been on the rise in recent years, decreased by 6.2 per cent but rape only dropped by 0.4 per cent, the figures show.
“We are unhappy and concerned about the levels of rape in the country,” Mthethwa said.
There were, however, declines in overall violence against women and children, key sectors the police and the government have been targeting.
Gareth Newham, an analyst at the Institute for Security Studies, noted that the data means murder has increased from 43 per cent to 45 per cent daily on the average across the country, while there are some 290 robberies daily.
Mthethwa said that police resources were being drained by an increase in protests across the country, especially demonstrations which turn violent.
There were more than 1,800 such protests in the reporting period.
Murder of police officers and police suicides were also of great concern, the minister said.
“The crime situation in the country is under control,” police chief, Riah Phiyega, insisted at a news conference.
Phiyega noted that violent crime as a whole was down, with common assault, for example, lower by 7.9 per cent.
Phiyega warned, however, that socio-economic conditions, including poverty, alcohol abuse and even a lack of adequate street lighting in townships were contributing to the crime problem.
Overall, the crime statistics show that South Africa – infamous for its violent crime – is safer than it was a decade ago.
The murder rate is down 27.2 per cent compared to 2004.
However, analysts like Newham warn that the data from the past year is worrying.
“After a long period of decreases in serious and violent crime, these are the worst figures we have seen in 10 years,” he said.
dpa/NAN.
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