‘We are a very angry country’: Arguments, misunderstandings, road rage leading causes of murder in SA

A person in South Africa in more likely to be killed as a result of an argument, misunderstanding or road rage, the latest crime statistics have revealed.

The police’s top brass, including Police Minister Bheki Cele, briefed the Portfolio Committee on Police about the second quarter crime statistics of the 2023/2024 financial year on Friday.

Crime stats

The crime stats show a slight decrease in the number of murders and sexual offences such as rape and sexual assault recorded between July to September 2023.

Breaking down the numbers, Major-General Norman Sekhukhune told MPs on Friday that the murder rate went down 0.8% and sexual offences 1.5% in the second quarter when compared to the same period last year.

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However, there were increases in cases of attempted sexual offences, attempted murder, assault with the intent to inflict grievous bodily harm (GBH), common assault, common robbery and robbery with aggravating circumstances.

MPs also heard that arguments, misunderstandings, road rage and provocation were the main drivers of murder, attempted murder and assault GBH.

Other causes of murders in general are vigilantism or mob justice and followed robbery, gang-related crimes, revenge or punishment crimes, and hijackings.

According to the stats, the three police stations (Nyanga, Delft and Mfuleni) in the Western Cape made the top five of stations that recorded the most contact crimes including murder, sexual offences, common assaults and common robbery.

The Johannesburg Central and Durban Central police stations made up the rest of the top five.

‘No-go zones’

Reacting to the presentation, Inkatha Freedom Party (IFP) MP Zandile Majozi said the causative factors of murder in South Africa was concerning.

“We are a very angry country. We need to find some sort of ways [to deal] with this,” she said.

Majozi seemingly insinuated that the crimes being committed by illegal immigrants also needed to be addressed.

“Not to shift the blame… we are not saying South Africans are not criminals, but the day we as a country deal with the issue of foreigners, we will see a drastic change towards these crime that are being committed,” Majozi said.

African National Congress (ANC) MP Gobonamang Marekwa welcomed the decreases in some categories, but expressed concern about high crime areas.

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“I think as much as the police are doing their work much more needs to be done. The concern that one also raises is that in some provinces, especially in Eastern Cape, there are areas that [are] becoming or have been declared by residents as no-go zones because of crime. The police needs to give that attention,” she said.

Marekwa said another area of concern was that many sexual offences were frequently occurring at tertiary institutions.

National Freedom Party (NFP) MP Munzoor Shaik Emam said the rising levels of crime in some areas of the Western Cape was “a very serious problem”.

“The City of Cape Town particularly, why is that the murder and rape rate in this area is so high?” he said.

“Despite the Western Cape [government] and the City of Cape Town bragging about law enforcement and metro police about their success, it seems to be getting progressively worse. So the question is what are other measures that can be put in place to provide assistance to the provincial police in the Western Cape to deal with those particular areas,” Shaik Emam continued.

Watch the meeting below:

‘One murder is one too many’

Furthermore, African Christian Democratic Party (ACDP) president Kenneth Meshoe expressed concern about rape incidents taking place in public transport.

While Economic Freedom Fighters (EFF) Virgill Gericke acknowledged the work of the police, he highlighted that “one murder is one too many”.

Gericke called for a broader platform to discuss the issue of crime in South Africa.

“It is not just an issue for the police, it has got to do with the socio-political circumstances in our country and various other departments should be involved. I think it is somehow unfair to expect the police to have major successes while the crime is being sparked on another level,” he said.

The committee’s chairperson, Albert Seabi said it was worrying that “things start looking bad” during the months of August and September.

“It seems to be a trend,” Seabi said.

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