CASES of murder, rape and sexual assault have increased across South Africa. That’s according to Major General Norman Sekhukhune who said 21 022 people were murdered during the 12 months ending March 2019.

Sekhukhune said this when the Police Ministry appeared before the Portfolio Committee to present the annual crime statistics for the 2018/19 financial year on Thursday.

“In the current financial year, we have recorded 21 022, that is an increase of 636, or 1.4 per cent increase in the total number of murders when compared to the previous financial year,” he said.

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Sekhukhune said, meanwhile, that police have observed a disturbing statistic of reported cases where children have been murdered by other children.

“We have the number that shows that the murders that have been committed by these children in the current financial year are 736,” he said.

There was also an increase in 4.6 per cent in the cases of sexual offences that were reported to the police – from 49 660 in 2016/17 to 52 420 in 2018/19 – and this translates to 2 132 more cases of sexual assault that were reported over the past three financial years.

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In the same period, attempted murder went up by 4.1 per cent to 18 980, while assault with the intention to do grievous bodily harm increased by 2.2 per cent to 170 979.

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