State failing, citizens paying

The Institute of Race Relations (IRR) says the rise in the murder rate is proof that the state is failing to protect citizens.

They say 485 187 murders have been committed since 1994, adding up to an average of 20 000 people being killed each year.

IRR analyst Gerbrandt van Heerden said that even though the murder rate has almost halved since 1994, from 67 to 35.2 per 100 000 people in 2017/18, it’s still relatively high, being:

More than 30 times higher than in Australia (1.1) and almost 30 times higher than France (1.2);

Eight times higher than the US (3.8);

Twice the rate of Mexico (18.9); and

Closer to 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.” – Citizen reporter