Pretoria: According to recent police statistics, more than 7,000 individuals were killed over the course of three months in South Africa, an increase from the same time last year.
South Africa’s parliamentary portfolio committee on police heard details of the crime statistics, recording those crimes reported to the South African Police Service (SAPS) from July 1 to September 30, 2022.
According to quarterly statistics, there were 14% more murders between July and September than there were during the same period in 2021, when 6,163 individuals were killed.
Nearly 1,000 women were among those who were killed in the year 2022. Additionally, 1,277 women were the targets of attempted murder and more than 13,000 women were assaulted with the aim to cause serious bodily harm.
“The rate at which women are abused, violated and some killed in South Africa remains worrying and unacceptable,” Police Minister Bheki Cele told a news conference.
The statistics also revealed that kidnappings doubled to more than 4,000 from the same time last year, and rapes increased by 11% with 10,000 cases reported nationwide in a nation notorious for sex assaults against women and children.
“The crime statistics again show that we as communities continue to fail to protect some of the most vulnerable in society: our children,” Cele said.
The data also revealed that kidnappings doubled to more than 4,000 from the same time last year, while rapes increased by 11% with 10,000 cases reported nationwide in a nation known for sex assaults against women and children.
The country’s largest labour confederation, COSATU, said last month that the force’s headcount has declined by nearly 30,000 during the past decade from more than 200,000 to 172,000.
