51 MURDERS A DAY IN SA

The release of the crime statistics yesterday made for bleak reading, with murder up 4.9%, or 51 people killed every day, and rapes standing at a staggering 114 a day – a figure experts questioned as too low.

Over seven percent of the country’s murderers are students or school children.

This was revealed yesterday in which murder across the country had increased by 4.9% compared to 2015-15 figures.

There were 18 673 recorded murders last year.

Following the release of the crime stats, Police Minister Nathi Nhleko said a total of 60.9% of known offenders had been unemployed at the time of committing the crime; 31% were employed and the remaining 7.4% were students or pupils.

Youth had also weighed in and added to the tally for arson crimes.

Nhleko said the #FeesMustFall campaign in Gauteng and the North West contributed to the tally of 4,903 cases of arson reported last year.

Gangs; of which the youth in poorer areas in the Western Cape are still falling prey to; were also blamed for adding to the overall crime count.

Nhleko said although not prominent from a national perspective gang violence was found to be a “direct generator” of murders in the Western Cape.

This accounted for 2.3% of the national murder counts and 13.4% of those in the province.

Youth also continue to fall prey to crimes like rape as they were sometimes left alone at home or in the care of other minors or much older people.

Analysis conducted in North West revealed that 35.4% of rape cases in that province involved victims younger than 18.