SA’s murder rate has reached war zone levels, laments Action Society

Civic group, Action Society, says the murder rate in the country has reached war zone levels.

The group’s Director of Community Safety, Ian Cameron, made the remarks in reaction to the fourth quarter crime stats that were released by Police Minister, Bheki Cele, and his high-ranking officials in Cape Town today.

The latest stats have painted somewhat of a bleak picture on how crime has increased.

It shows a 3.4% increase to the murder rate after 6 289 people were murdered in the country between January to March 2023.

Cameron says unless government urgently implements an integrated plan between key stake holders like the Police, and Social Development, the latest crime statistics mean nothing.

Majority of the killings took place in KwaZulu-Natal, Western Cape and Gauteng as a result of arguments, vigilantism and robberies.

Cele says KZN reported the highest figures of multiple-murder cases, followed by the Eastern Cape with 206 and 155 victims respectively.

Free State, Northern Cape and Western Cape recorded decreases in murder figures with Western Cape and Northern Cape reporting double-digit decreases.

Despite the slight decreases, the Police Minister did acknowledge that more work still needs to be done to combat crime.

The crime stats also revealed that more than 13 000 sexual offences were reported during this period. The number is lower than the previous quarter’s 15 545.

The stats also showed that attempted murders of women increased by 21.5%, meaning there were 1 485 attempted murders.

This while 245 children were murdered between January to March.

This means that 82 young lives were snuffed out per month during that period.

Bheki Cele on the other hand used the opportunity to reiterate the call for all sectors of society to work with police in ridding their communities, and the country at large, of crime.

According to the Minister, R70 million of the current police budget will be distributed within the provinces towards supporting Community Policing Forums (CPF).

Cele says this will be done in a bid to better equip the CPF’s with their resourcing requirements as they aim to better strengthen their working relationship with the police.

The Minister revealed that in various provinces, CPFs have been able to achieve great milestones by working with the police, and as a result keeping their communities safe.