Limpopo showed the largest increase, with the Eastern Cape, North West and the Free State with
numbers higher than the South African average. In the Northern Cape, however, murder
declined to 9.9%, although the reported cases of attempted murder in the province
increased with 17.1%.
According to the SAPD, the nature of the social contact between the victim and the
perpetrator may explain the increase in murders. Most murders are committed indoors, the
victims and the perpetrators are known to each other and a large number of murders are
also committed in a setting where domestic violence is prominent. Alcohol and drug use
and abuse have been identified as one of the factors that could explain the increase in
cases.
The Northern Cape recorded an increase of 17.1% cases of attempted murder. This is
more than 13% above the national average. Mpumalanga, the Eastern Cape, Limpopo and
Gauteng are provinces where there was also a further increase since the previous financial
year. In the Free State, Western Cape and North West, there was a decrease in reported
cases of attempted murder.
Reported incidents of assault increased by 3,472 cases. Limpopo shows a gradual
increase in incidents of assault, but in the Western Cape there were 2 154 more cases
than the previous year, with a total of 41 304. Gauteng remains the province where most
incidents of assault are reported, with a total of 44 255 cases and an increase of 3.1%
compared to the previous financial year.
The Northern Cape, which is one of the more sparsely populated provinces in South Africa,
showed the largest increase in cases of robbery, with an increase of 6.8%. Nationally,
however, there has been a decline of reported cases of 1.5%. Limpopo again showed a
steady increase, with a difference of 163 cases compared with the previous financial year.
Mpumalanga, the Western Cape and the Free State show a decline in reported cases over
the same period.
Vehicle hijacks, also a subcategory of robbery with aggravated circumstances, showed the
largest national increase of all the 17 serious crimes reported by the public. The Northern
Cape shows a drastic increase of 213.3%. North West (370), the Western Cape (2 032)
and Limpopo (450) are the provinces with the highest increase. The overall national
increase was 14.3%; and only KwaZulu-Natal, Gauteng and the Free State showed an
increase below the national average. No provinces have shown a decrease in reported
cases of hijacks.
