Africa-Press – South-Africa. Police Minister Bheki Cele on Wednesday afternoon said the high levels of abuse and murder of women were worrying and unacceptable.
Cele presented the quarterly crime statistics, recording the crimes reported to the South African Police Service (SAPS) from 1 July to 30 September 2022.
He said that a double-digit percentage increase was recorded over the three-month period for murder, attempted murder, and assault with intent to cause grievous bodily harm (GBH) against women.
He announced that more than 13 000 women were victims of assault with intent to cause grievous bodily harm, 1 277 women were victims of attempted murder, and 989 women were murdered between July and September.
Cele said more than 10 000 rape cases were opened at SAPS during the same period.
“From a sample of 8 227 rape incidents perused, it was determined that 5 083, which is 62% of these incidents, occurred at the residence of the victims or perpetrators.”
He said 1 651 rapes occurred at public places such as streets, parks, and beaches, while 69 people were raped at abandoned buildings, and 83 people were raped at educational facilities, including schools and tertiary institutions. He noted that not all of the 83 rapes involved pupils or students, and that some of them happened at night or over weekends when schools and tertiary institutions weren’t open.
Mpumalanga was the only province that recorded a decrease in rape incidents. Inanda in KwaZulu-Natal, Mthatha in the Eastern Cape, and Delft in the Western Cape were the police stations that had the most rape cases reported.
Major General Thulare Sekhukhune said contact crimes had increased by 18.5%, while contact-related crimes decreased by 4.9%, and property-related crimes decreased by 7.4%.
Sekhukhune added that commercial crimes increased by 19.9%, other serious crimes increased by 19.6%, and community-reported serious crimes increased by 14.8%.
Violence against children
Cele conceded that the government failed to protect the vulnerable in society – children.
From April to the end of September, 558 children were killed in the country.
He said police were investigating the attempted murder of 294 children from July to September 2022, while there had been 1 895 reported cases of assault with the intent to commit GBH against children.
Cele said 7 004 people were killed in the country in the second quarter of 2022/2023.
“This is an increase of 841 more people murdered, compared to the same period in 2021, when the country was placed under Covid-19 lockdown levels 4, 3 and 2.”
He said kidnappings had doubled nationally, with more than 4 000 counts reported to the police.
Cele said the July to September months saw a record number of assault cases reported to the police in five years.
He said police across the country investigated a total of 85 640 assault with intent to commit GBH and common assault cases in the past three months.
According to Cele, arguments, road rage, provocation, misunderstandings, retaliation, revenge, and punishment, were the top motives for these assaults.
The statistics revealed that 22 police officers were killed from July to September 2022 – while 20 officers were killed in the same reporting period last year.
Cele said:
According to the statistics, more than 6 000 vehicle hijackings were reported to the police from July to September 2022.
A total of 356 vehicles were reported hijacked in Nyanga, Harare, and Phillipe East, all in the Western Cape.
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