This is according to the crime statistics which was released by the minister of police, Bheki Cele, in Cape Town recently. The statistics refer to all crimes recorded by the police between January and March 2023. Thohoyandou, in position 28, is the only station from the province in the top 30 to report serious crimes nationwide.

The Vhembe district based station documented the second highest cases of rape and sexual offences countrywide. Three police stations, Mankweng, Seshego and Maake are also prevalent for serious and violent crimes. Limpopo also recorded an increase in murder cases to 249 incidences from 219 from the same period in 2022. Carjacking increased by one case from 297 in 2022 to 298 in the first quarter of this year.

Also read: Rape statistics show an increase in Hoedspruit

The province also had the fifth most cash-in-transit cases countrywide. Not all is gloom as the
province has also documented a decrease in crimes such as kidnapping from ten cases last year to six cases. Arson declined by six cases from 88 to 82 cases and malicious damage to property went down
by 24 cases from 6122 to 6098. Cele stated that the country had recorded a high number of murders during the past three months. He said that it is however the lowest murder statistic police have recorded in the past three quarters.

“6 289 people were killed with firearms, knifes, sharp and blunt instruments, stones and even bare hands, between January and March this year,” he said. “The majority of the killings took place in  KwaZulu-Natal, Western Cape and Gauteng with arguments, vigilantism and robberies topping the
motive list,” he said. Cele also stated that there were less child killings in this quarter. He thanked the men and women in blue who work tirelessly to alleviate criminality in the country.