DURBAN - MURDER cases in KwaZulu-Natal increased by a staggering 64% between April and June this year, with 1 404 people killed during this period.
The shocking statistics were revealed by Police Minister Bheki Cele when he released the recent crime statistics on Friday. According to the report, an additional 548 people were killed in comparison with the same period last year, in which 856 people were killed.
Sexual offences and attempted murder cases also showed a sharp increase, by 68.2% and 71.8% respectively. About 6 258 cases of assault with the intent to inflict grievous bodily harm were reported, an increase of 59.1% and an addition of 2 324 cases compared to the same period last year.
Between April and the end of June this year, there were 1 959 reported rape cases in the province, an increase of 799 cases.
Hijackings rose by 109.7% in the province, with 820 reported cases, an increase of 429 cases compared to the same period last year, when 391 cases were reported.
In the same period last year, no cash-in-transit robbery cases were reported, but eight incidents were reported in the three months under review.
Truck hijackings also saw an upsurge of 46.2% with 19 cases reported.
UMlazi police station topped the list, nationally, in murder cases, followed by the Pietermaritzburg-based Plessislaer SAPS station in second and Inanda in fourth place.
The Inanda police station reported the most rape cases, 73 in total, in the three-month period.
Sharon Hoosen, the DA KZN spokesperson on community safety and liaison, said the quarterly crime statistics for KZN were clear evidence of the continuing threat to the safety of residents of the province.
Every quarter, Hoosen said, the people of KZN were promised that crime would be reduced in their communities and there would be a safer environment for women and children.
“Yet they remain empty promises as the top brass continue to fail to provide necessary resources to KZN’s 184 SAPS stations,” she said.
Hoosen said the province remained severely under-staffed, with no recruitment of new SAPS officers in two years.
The DA called on the KZN Community Safety MEC, Peggy Nkonyeni, together with the provincial SAPS commissioner, Lieutenant-General Nhlanhla Mkhwanazi, to detail a plan of action aimed at reducing key priority crimes as a matter of urgency.
KZN violence monitor Mary de Haas said the increase in such serious crimes was concerning and this needed to be a wake up call for action for the province.
De Haas said that in order to combat such crime, especially murder, attempted murder, robbery and hijacking, there was a need to clamp down on illegal firearms in KZN.
She said that the police’s failure to curb the moving around of illegal firearms would result in more people being killed and robbed.
“We got to do something about illegal guns to start with. I know that people are killed by all sorts of weapons, but gun crime is a big contributing factor.
“Criminals find it easy to pick up a gun and kill someone or hijack someone.”
THE MERCURY