CAPE TOWN 

South Africa’s latest crime statistics, released this week, have revealed that 17,805 people were murdered in the country between April 1 of last year and March 31, 2015.

The figures show that 49 people are killed each day in the country, compared to 45 murders reported each day in 2011/12.

A total of 15,554 people were killed in the country in 2011/13, and the number has since increased further. In 2012/13 alone, 16,213 murders were reported, while 17,023 cases were recorded last year.

When releasing the statistics in parliament on Tuesday, Police Minister Nathi Nhleko partly attributed the high crime rate to rising drug and alcohol abuse. 

He also said crime was a “social issue” and that police alone were unable to resolve it, but rather needed the assistance of families and communities.

The new statistics also revealed that 353 robberies were reported each day in South Africa.

There has also been a sharp increase in violent crime, including attempted murder, assault and armed robbery.

Police Commissioner Riah Phiyega blamed the increasing crime rate on a number of factors, including the proliferation of firearms, mini-bus and taxi violence, drug addiction and rising numbers of undocumented migrants.

“There is no limit to the number of firearms that may be imported into the country,” she said, going on to reveal that there were currently some ten million firearms in the country owned by over two million people.  

“These are too many firearms,” she said, calling for tougher gun regulations.

Some opposition members of parliament expressed concern over the high crime rate, saying the country’s police were failing the citizenry.

“Forty-nine murders per day means we are back to where we were three years ago,” Dianne Kohler Barnard, shadow police minister for the opposition Democratic Alliance, said.

“The murder rate is what I would expect from a country at war,” she said.

Kohler went on to voice doubts about the accuracy of the just-released statistics, saying state mortuaries were giving higher figures than those given in the statistics.

Johan Burger, a senior crime researcher at the South African Institute for Security Studies, attributed the increased levels of violence to recent political demonstrations and xenophobic attacks.