Parliament - Police have revealed that the murder rate has increased a lot in the last 10 years with now more than 21 000 people killed today.
Major-General Norman Sekhukhune said on Thursday there were 18 000 murders in the 2008/2009 financial year.
But police began to observe that there was an increase in 2011.
Sekhukhune said there were 21 022 people killed this year compared to the previous financial year.
He added that most murders happened over weekends, which suggested that these were fueled by alcohol and drug abuse.
Police Minister Bheki Cele said there was a high number of people killed by the people they know. However, these murders were not recorded as such as police were working out a formula.
These murders are recorded as murders.
“One problem on the murders, which is not recorded, is that there is a high number of people murdered by the people they know,” said Cele.
He said these numbers have pushed up the murder rate.