In just one week, police reported 15 murders in South Africa, with the most gruesome case being that of a North West father who wiped out his entire family.
Inspector Thabo Makhafola said the man, from Madikwe’s Lethlakeng village in North West, had been a security guard at a mine in the area.
He opened fire on his family on Sunday afternoon after an argument with his wife, killing her and three other members of the family including his month-old baby before turning his Norinco pistol on himself.
Also on Sunday, three men were found burned to death at a railway station in Nyanga, Cape Town. Another man was found dead on the same day on a train bound for Boksburg on the East Rand.
A police officer was killed this week while on duty in Soshanguve near Pretoria. Captain Daniel Kwatamela Morakaladi was interviewing a witness in an inquest case in Soshanguve on Tuesday evening when he was shot dead by robbers. They shot him several times in the upper body and escaped with his service pistol and police car.
On Thursday morning, Limpopo police reported that a 39-year-old mother of two was killed by robbers at her home in Polokwane.
Other murders include that of 62-year-old woman who was killed by her husband who then committed suicide in Hebron north of Pretoria on Thursday, a man stabbed to death in Fichardtpark near Bloemfontein and another one in Thabong, Welkom, in the Free State.
A 28-year-old man in Luitzburg at Kakamas near Upington was stabbed to death on Sunday, allegedly by his girlfriend’s father after an argument.
A body of man was also found partly decomposed in Delft near Bellville, Western Cape on Thursday.
According to crime statistics from April 1, 2003 to March 31, 2004, about 400 people were killed in South Africa every week.
The South African Police Service said murder had decreased by eight percent from 21 553 people killed in 2003 to 19 824 in 2004.
On Friday, crime statistics at station level representing trends in the various areas were made available on the SA Police Service website.
Residents will from now on be able to log on to www.saps.gov.za to keep track of criminal activities in their neighbourhood. – Sapa