More than 60% of all murders that take place in South Africa, take place during the weekend.
According to the Head of the Police Crime Research and Statistics, Major General Norman Sekhukhune who has been briefing Parliament’s Portfolio Committee on the latest crime statistics, murder cases have increased significantly.
Murder has gone up by nearly 700 cases, bringing the total to over 21 000, this means 58 people are murdered everyday.
Sekhukhune says most murders happen between Saturday evening and the early hours of Monday morning, with the main contributors being alcohol and drug abuse.
Sekhukhune said: “What we have observed is that 7 176 were committed with firearms, 4 720 committed with knives, 1 532 were committed with sharp instruments. So, in total these three types of weapons were used to commit 13 428 murders.”
Police Minister Bheki Cele says a significant portion of people who are murdered in the country; die at the hands of people they know.
The figures cover the period from April 2018 to March 2019.
Cele said policing in such an environment is difficult.
“There is a very high number of people who are killed by people they know. It would be difficult to police such cases, where people known to them are murdering them. It has really pushed up on murders.”
Watch video below for more:
#CrimeStats : The South African Police Services (SAPS) has announced a spike in murders, rapes and armed robberies in the country.
Do you believe the police are doing enough to fight crime in SA? | Read more: https://t.co/wSdEA7JvJF
— SABC News Online (@SABCNewsOnline) September 12, 2019
