ON THIS DAY

GRIM STATISTICS

SAPS LOSING FIGHT AGAINST CRIME

THE increase in the murder rate shows the state is failing in its duty to protect citizens.

The latest crime statistics released by the SAPS show the country is losing the war against crime in general and murder in particular. Some 485 187 murders have been committed since 1994.

This sum of nearly half a million people murdered in just 24 years means that, on average, 20 000 people have been killed each year.

According to the SAPS data, the murder rate has gone up from 30.1 per 100 000 people in 2011/12 to 35.2 per 100 000 people in 2017/18, or by 17%.

The actual number of murder cases also went up. In 2011/12, 15 554 murders were reported compared to 20 336 murders in 2017/18, an increase of 31%, and an increase of 7% from the 2016/17 period.

Institute for Race Relations analyst Gerbrandt van Heerden says although the murder rate has declined almost by half since 1994, from 67 to 35.2 per 100 000 people in 2017/18, it remains relatively high, being:

◆ More than 30 times higher than in Australia (with a rate of 1.1), and almost 30 times higher than in France (1.2).

◆ Eight times higher than in the US (3.8).

◆ Twice the rate of Mexico (18.9).

◆ Closer to countries such as Colombia (31.8) and El Salvador (39.8).

Van Heerden said: “The State is failing utterly in its duty to protect society and all South Africans are paying an extremely heavy price in terms of the collective trauma visited on so many crime survivors and their families.”