Parliament - Gauteng, South Africa's most heavily populated province, recorded 4,101 murders in the 2016/17 financial year, MPs heard on Tuesday.
Briefing Parliament's portfolio committee on police, Major General Norman Sekhukhune, head of police crime research and statistics, said the number of murders in Gauteng were up 6.7 percent.
Kwazulu-Natal police responded to 4,014 murders (up 2.2%), followed by the Eastern Cape with 3,628 murders (down 0.6%).
The Western Cape recorded the fourth largest number of murders at 3,311 (up 2.7 percent), followed by Mpumalanga with 954 murders (up 11.1%), and the Free state with 950 murders (down 4.3%)
There were 901 murders in the North West and 813 in Limpopo. The Northern Cape, South Africa's largest province but with the smallest population, recorded the least murders at 344 (down 7.5%).