Crime stats: Here’s where you’re most likely to get murdered

The number of murder cases in South Africa continues to cause alarm, with 7 555 people (10.1%) murdered in the country between October and December 2022.

Quarterly crime statistics

Police Minister Bheki Cele and the management of the South African Police Service (Saps) on Friday released the quarterly crime statistics, covering the period between 1 October 2022 to 31 December 2022.

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According to the figures, police recorded an increase of 696 murders during the reporting period. Compared to the same quarter in 2021, 6 859 people were murdered in SA.

Police stations in the Western Cape, followed by KwaZulu-Natal and Eastern Cape recorded the most murders in the country.

Gun violence

Out of the 7 555 people murdered in the three months of reporting, Cele said 3 144 people were killed with a firearm, highlighting the country’s challenge with gun violence.

2 498 people were killed with other weapons such as knives, sharp and blunt instruments, bricks – and in many cases – bare hands.

Raising concerns about the grim figures, Cele said it was clear that South Africans need to have a broader conversation about what is at the heart of violent crime in the country.

“While gun violence is problematic and poses a serious threat to lives and livelihoods, with the analysis of the current and previous statistics, it is quite evident that firearms are only part of a bigger problem,” he said.

Causes of violence

The minister added that at the core of the matter is human behaviour and the country’s socioeconomic challenges.

“We have to be honest as South Africans about the causes of violence and address them.

“High rates of unemployment and poverty levels, the mushrooming of informal settlements with little to no services and other socioeconomic ills are breeding criminality, coupled by the high number of undocumented foreign nationals that are hard to trace after the commission of a crime,” said Cele.

Here are the top 10 police stations that reported the most murders:

• Mfuleni, Western Cape (89 cases)

• Inanda, KwaZulu-Natal (87 cases)

• Delft, Western Cape (86 cases)

• Plessislaer, KwaZulu-Natal (74 cases)

• Nyanga, Western Cape (68 cases)

• New Brighton, Eastern Cape (64 cases)

• Kraaifontein, Western Cape (60 cases)

• Harare, Western Cape (58 cases)

• KwaMashu E, KwaZulu-Natal (56 cases)

• Mthatha, Eastern Cape (55 cases)

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