THE lifting of the ban on the sale of alcohol since the beginning of lockdown level 3 in June has ushered an unwanted surge in reported deaths after a lull between March and May.
This was revealed by Police Minister Bheki Cele during a press briefing on Tuesday.
“Nationally we’d sit back and complain about 30 people that have died,” said the Minister.
This was until last Monday, when the ban on alcohol during the lockdown was lifted.
Read also: KZN liquor outlets shut down for contravening lockdown regulations
“Until Monday – 1 June – which is not an entirely dangerous day, for the first time since the lockdown, we got reports of 40 people killed. The next day there were 51 [murders] and there were 69 this past Sunday,” he said.
During this period police were averaging between 20 and 30 murder cases a day.
“That has now just gone up, including attempting murder, including the abuse of women and violence against women,” he said.
He emphasised that it was difficult for law enforcement to curb domestic violence.
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