While South Africa has seen a double digit increase in contact crimes, including rape and murder, Police Minister Bheki Cele says the latest quarterly crime statistics are distorted because of last year's hard lockdown.

While South Africa has seen a double digit increase in contact crimes, including rape and murder, Police Minister Bheki Cele says the latest quarterly crime statistics are distorted because of last year’s hard lockdown.

Published on

21 August 2021

Cele yesterday released the quarterly crime stats for the period of 1 April to the end of June 2021. He says contact crimes such as murder, attempted murder, sexual offences, and all categories of assault registered a 60.6% increase, compared to the corresponding period of the previous financial year, but he says this comparison isn’t useful and accurate. During the same period last year, the country was in a hard lockdown which severely restricted movement, which resulted in less crime. According to the minister, in the 3 months of reporting, there was a 66.2% increase in murder.

Merentia Van Der Vent

Merentia joined the media world in 1996 and in 2001, she took her first steps in the broadcasting world. In her free time, she likes to go on adventures in the city. She also likes to learn new dances, not that she is any good at that.