Eastern Cape again records highest per capita murder rate

SA’s murder rate has grown an alarming 11.5% during the first quarter of the current financial year, with Eastern Cape towns once again featured among the worst.

This was revealed by police minister Bheki Cele on Friday while presenting the quarterly crime statistics. 

Cele said 6,424 people had been killed in the first quarter, an increase of 664 compared with the same period in 2021, while the country was in lockdown levels one and two.

Firearms were three times more likely to be the weapon of choice in all the reported murders, with 2,766 people being shot dead.

Mthatha was named as having one of the highest murder rates, alongside Umlazi in Durban and Plessislaer in KwaZulu-Natal.

While KZN had the highest recorded multiple murders, said Cele, followed by Gauteng and the Eastern Cape, the Eastern Cape again has the highest per capita murder rate in the country, at 18 per 100,000.

Cele said 1,098 women and children had been killed in just three months, making up 18% of the total deaths.

“All communities must join hands in having a zero tolerance approach when it comes to crimes committed against women and children,” Cele said.

“The reporting period of April to June shows that SA was brutal and dangerous for women and children.

“Violent crimes committed against women and children recorded alarmingly high and unacceptable levels.

“From April to June 2022, 855 women and 243 children were killed in SA.”

DA MPL shadow MEC for community safety, Bobby Stevenson, said: “Home invasions and burglaries, along with breaking into and theft of vehicles are sending shock waves through communities.

“The criminals are at the gates, no longer is a person’s home a place of refuge.

“Robberies at residential properties increased 9.1% compared with the same period last year, up from 453 cases to 494 cases.

“Non-residential robberies also rose, from 570 cases from April to June 2021, to 633 cases for the same period this year,” Stevenson added.

Carjackings also increased by 24.2%, from 327 to 406 over the three months under review.

A total of 9,516 cases of rape had been opened in the same period, a decline of almost 500.

The figures presented were not broken down, but previously Lusikisiki was named as the town with the country’s worst rape rate.

Cele said police would “continue to prioritise gender-based violence [GBV] crimes”.

He said 286 rapists had been convicted between April and June, with 46 of them sentenced to life imprisonment.

More than 11,000 assault GBH cases, with female victims, were opened with the police, with 1,670 involving children.

He said 16 serial rapists, involved in 65 serial sexual offence cases, had been convicted to a total of 20 life and 886 years’ imprisonment.

The minister said farm murders had also shown a decrease, but did not provide statistics.

Contact crimes cases were down 2,205 compared with the same period in 2021.

A 33.3% drop in cash-in-transit robberies was also reported.

Cele was vocal about the impact that alcohol had on crime.

“We cannot accept as a nation that 227 people between April and June 2022 were killed in places of entertainment such as taverns, pubs and bars.

“In 749 murder cases, liquor was involved. The reality is that liquor was during this reporting period  involved in over 4,000 cases of assault GBH.

“In 1,212 rape cases, alcohol was involved during the commission of the crime,” he said.

Cele said “heightened police action such as disruptive operations, targeted stop-and-searches and vehicle control points, between April and June 2022 have also meant more firearms, more drugs were taken of the streets”.

He conceded, however, that more operational interventions were still needed to ensure the safety of South Africans. — Additional reporting by Alex Patrick/TimesLIVE