SA murder rate 'still too high'
2006-09-26 22:58
Christel Raubenheimer
Pretoria - Statistics are showing that murder has steadily declined in the past 10 years and this tendency may be seen to continue when the new crime statistics are released on Wednesday.
Safety and Security Minister Charles Nqakula announces the police's official crime statistics once a year and the police's annual report will be released at the same time.
A senior researcher of the criminal law programme of the Institute of Security Studies, Dr Johan Burger, predicts that crime statistics of, among others, murder and attempted murder will probably again be lower than previous years.
Out of every 100 000 South Africans, 40 were murdered last year.
Burger said this figure was about eight times higher than the global standard.
Jeppestown won't be counted
"It's important to remember the statistics reflected in the report are just to March this year. The sudden increase in crime in the second quarter will not be reflected."
Several violent crimes have taken place in the past six months and police recently announced the introduction of a six-month plan to counter crime.
The Jeppestown massacre, in which four police officers were murdered, and the murder of motorists who stopped along highways were some of the high-profile cases not reflected in the latest statistics.
Burger also expected rape statistics, like last year, again would show an upward curve. These figures have see-sawed the past 10 years and several factors played a role.
Burger said the increased reporting of rape was one of these factors.
'Police visibility must increase'
Rape was one of the crimes that made women feel particularly unsafe, but Burger said the police had little control over this crime.
Other crimes of which South Africans are afraid are hijacking, housebreaking and armed robberies at home.
Burger said: "If you want to increase people's sense of safety, police visibility will have to increase. People want to see the police to bring about a feeling of safety."
- Beeld