Durban - Murder up. Rape up. Home robbery up. Carjackings up.
The crimes that scare us the most have all spiked in KwaZulu-Natal the release of the annual crime statistics revealed on Thursday.
The crime statistics, Police Minister Bheki Cele, national police commissioner Khehla Sitole and his team in parliament on Thursday painted a grim picture with most crimes showing an upward trajectory.
The reporting period is between 1 April 2018 - 31 March 2019.
Murder in KwaZulu-Natal increased from 4 382 in the last reporting period to 4 395 this reporting period. Sexual offences jumped 6.3 percent going from 8 759 reported cases to 9 308 reported cases.
Attempted murder was also up jumping from 4 099 reported cases to 4203 cases. Robbery with aggravated circumstances also saw an increase rising from 94 914 to 97 505.
Rape also increased in KZN shooting up from 7 243 to 7 667. Carjacking increased from 2 2698 to 2 764.
Robbery at residential properties was also up, rising from 4 174 to 4 182.
Theft of motor vehicle and motorcycles showed a decrease going from 8240 to 8 050 with theft out of motor vehicle also decreasing from 16 344 to 14 912.
Bank robbery also showed a decrease from 3 last year to 0 this reporting period.
The murder rate in South Africa has increased by 1.4% reach a high of over 21 000 Major General Norman Sekhukhune revealed in parliament today.
Sekhukhune also said rapes and other sexual offences have increased by 4.6% nationally.
Cases of attempted murder increased by 4.1% while assault with intent to do grievous bodily increased by 2.2% and common assault increased by 3.7%.
The total numbers of murders recorded were 21,022; 686 more than the previous reporting year.
Attempted murder grew 4.1 per cent to 18,980, while assault with the intent to do grievous bodily harm was up 2.2 per cent to 170,979.
Rape and sexual assault were also on the rise, reaching 52,420 cases reported a 4.6 per cent increase compared to the previous year.
Cele said the statistics showed the most people were murdered by people they knew. The statistics also revealed that most murders occurred between 9pm on Saturday and 3am on Sunday with the police top brass pointing to the excessive consumption of alcohol between these periods as a contributing factor.
In fact, weekends contributed 60% of all murders.