Northern region’s murder rate for past two years more than 6 000

Bheki Cele, Minister of Police, on 12 September 2019 announced the national crime statistics for the 2018/2019 financial year. According to these statistics, the murder rate for the northern region increased to 6 405 in comparison with 6 066 for the 2017/2018 financial year.

According to Cele, the murder rate in Mpumalanga increased with 8%, attempted murder with 21,5%, robbery with aggravating circumstances with 4,9% and ordinary robbery surged by 3,4%.

In Limpopo, murder surged by 0,3% while ordinary robbery increased with 2,4%. Attempted murder declined with 5,7% and robbery with aggravating circumstances with 0,6%.

While murder in Gauteng increased with 6,2%, attempted murder in the province declined with 0,2%. Robbery with aggravating circumstances increased with 0,7%, as well as ordinary robbery with 4,6%.

It is worrying that 6 405 murder cases – Mpumalanga (996), Limpopo (914) and Gauteng (4 495) – were reported at the SAPS this past financial year. AfriForum will make the northern region a focus area in terms of establishing safety structures to combat crime proactively within the framework of the law.

“AfriForum already has established safety structures in all the provinces and would like to make a plea to community members and other safety institutions to become involved to help combat crime,” says Hillel Coetzer, AfriForum’s Head of Safety for the Northern Region.

Become involved with your local AfriForum branch today: SMS your name to 45353 (R1).