Nationally, rape cases decreased by 3.1%, while robbery at residential premises and non-residential premises was down 1.3% and 21.1% respectively.
(File photo by Delwyn Verasamy/M&G)
The Eastern Cape has emerged as the province with the highest per capita murder rate, despite national murders having decreased over the second quarter by 5.8%.
The per capita murder rate for the Eastern Cape was 20 per 100 000 people for the three months from July to September.
“This is the highest per capita for the country when you take into consideration the nine provinces,” Major General Thulare Sekhukhune, the component head: crime registrar at the police department, told a media briefing on Monday as the latest crime stats were released.
In second place was the Western Cape with a per capita murder rate of 14 per 100 000, followed by KwaZulu-Natal with 12 and Gauteng with nine. The province with the lowest per capita murder was Limpopo with four per 100 000 people.
“When you look at these numbers you have to see that, for some, it is when many people are killed in one incident. We are all familiar with the story of what happened in Lusikisiki, whereby 18 people were killed in one instance,” Sekhukhune said.
He was referring to the slaying of 18 people and the injuring of five on 28 September outside two houses in the town of Lusikisiki in the Eastern Cape.
“We also had the incident in Kanana where eight people were killed [at a tavern in Klerksdorp in July] and this particular incident also resulted in 12 attempted murders. Then we also had seven victims killed in Highflats, six in Umlazi, five in Phokeng and five in Bronkhorstspruit,” Sekhukhune added.
In Hlokozi, in Highflats, seven family members were shot and fatally wounded when they attempted to kill police officers in Umlazi on 12 October 2024, and six people were killed in Umlazi in August.
With regards to rape, the Eastern Cape had the second-highest per capita rate with 23 per 100 000 in the second quarter, after the Free State which topped the provinces with 24 per 100 000.
Nationally, rape cases decreased by 3.1%, while robberies at residential premises and non-residential premises were down 1.3% and 21.1%, respectively.
Police Minister Senzo Mchunu said the only increases reported were for attempted murder, which rose by 2.2%, while assault with intent to do grievous bodily harm increased by 1% and commercial crime climbed 18.5%.
“Despite these gains, the persistence of high crime rates underscores the urgency of doubling our efforts in law enforcement, prevention and community involvement,” Mchunu said.
Asked what had led to the decrease in murders and rapes, Mchunu told reporters: “Police are at work.”