By Siyabonga Mkhwanazi and IOL reporter
Cape Town – KwaZulu-Natal is the murder capital of the country with 4 495 cases – 464 more than last year.
It is followed by Gauteng (4 555), the Western Cape (3 975) and the Eastern Cape (3 879).
This emerged from the police crime statistics released in Parliament on Friday by the head of the crime register, Lieutenant-General Norman Sekhukhune.
In Mpumalanga, 1 046 murders were reported, followed by the Free State with 939 murders and Limpopo (882). There were 864 murders in North West and 326 in the Northern Cape.
National police commissioner Khehla Sitole said they have been able to stabilise some provinces.
“From the stabilisation and normalisation point of view, three provinces have been stabilised. We have stabilised the Western Cape, Eastern Cape and Gauteng. The province now of focus is KZN,” said Sitole.
Police Minister Bheki Cele said there has been an increase of 1.4% in the number of murders committed in the country over the past three years. Thirty-three more people have been murdered in South Africa, with the murder rate rising to 21 325, an increase of 1.4%.
Looking at the murder rate over a 10-year period, 15 893 people were murdered in 2010/11, with it rising to 20 336 in 2017/18 by 1 320 (the biggest increase during this period).
A total of 73 police officials were killed during 2019/20, of which 35 were on-duty and 38 off-duty.
The highest number of on-duty police officers were killed in Gauteng (11), and KwaZulu-Natal (11) recorded the highest fatality rate among off-duty police officers.
Regarding the location where the murders were committed, the majority took place in a public place such as a street, open field, recreational centre, park, beach, abandoned building or parking area (9 712); 5 522 occurred at the residence of the perpetrator or victim (or at a place known by the perpetrator and victim); 853 at liquor outlets; 467 at business premises; 232 in various modes of transport such as a taxi, plane, bus, car or boat; and 133 on agricultural land (farm, plot or small holding).
For the first time in many years, Nyanga police station in the Western Cape recorded a 36% decrease in murders.
The Western Cape occupies six of the top 10 stations for murder: Nyanga remains in the first place, followed by Delft, Khayelitsha, Inanda, Philippi East, Mthatha, Umlazi, Harare, Plessislaer and Gugulethu.
There were 49 murders on farms and small holdings in 2019/2020, with 46 incidents – two more than the previous year.
Cele said gender-based violence, political killings and farm murders were some of the most stubborn crimes plaguing the country.