Crime is generally on the increase: Mchunu

Police Minister Senzo Mchunu says crime is generally on the increase and of concern are murder, rape, hijacking, kidnapping for ransom payment, and extortion.

Mchunu and National Police Commissioner Fanie Masemola presented the country’s crime statistics for the quarter covering April to June this year, in Cape Town today.

Mchunu says four of the nine provinces recorded increases in murder cases.

“The highest increase was recorded in the Western Cape, followed by North West, then the Eastern Cape and Limpopo. All the top 30 stations for murder were in only four provinces, namely Western Cape (11 stations), KwaZulu-Natal (8), Eastern Cape (6) and Gauteng (5). The leading stations among them were Nyanga, followed by Inanda, Umlazi, Khayelitsha and Harare.”

“The analysis of place of occurrence for murders in the first quarter crime statistics showed that the majority of the murders occurred in public places. This was the case among all provinces, with the exception of Northern Cape, where the majority of the murders occurred at the residential premises of either the perpetrator or victim. Other prevalent places of occurrence for murder include liquor outlets and shebeens, agricultural premises, business premises, public transport premises and spaza/tuck shops.”

The most commonly used murder weapons were firearms, followed by knives and sharp objects.

VIDEO | Crime stats briefing by Minister Senzo Mchunu: