Violent crime still increasing, with 7 555 murders between October and December

• Violent crime increased by 11.6% between October and December 2022.
• There were 7 555 murders during this period, of which 1 101 victims were women.
• Lobby group Action Society described it as a "bloodbath".

Violent crime increased year on year between October and December 2022, the Portfolio Committee on Police heard on Friday morning, when the police presented the crime statistics for the third quarter of the current financial year.

Overall, violent crime increased by 11.6% compared to the same period the previous year. This included increases in each of the categories making up violent crime.

There were 7 555 murders, an increase of 696 or 10.1%.

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Sexual offences increased by 1 357 to 15 545, an increase of 9.6%. There were 7 016 attempted murders, an increase of 1 357 or 24.3% – the highest percentage increase in all categories.

Assault with intent to do grievous bodily harm increased by 4 069 or 8.7% to 52 741, while common assault increased by 5 660 or 12% to 52 741.

There were 12 752 common robberies, an increase of 2 228 or 21.2%, and 32 829 robberies with aggravated circumstances, an increase of 3 686 or 10.8%.

These crimes, with the exception of robberies with aggravated circumstances, increased compared to the previous quarter (July to September 2022).

There were 7 004 murders during this quarter, 13 283 sexual crimes, 6 155 attempted murders, 41 251 assaults with intent to do grievous bodily harm, 44 389 common assaults, 12 024 common robberies, and 38 412 robberies with aggravated circumstances.

In total, 1 101 women were murdered between October and December 2022, an increase of 199 compared to the same quarter in the previous year and 112 more than the previous quarter.

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There were 1 636 attempted murders of women, 396 more than in the same quarter of the previous year and 359 more than in the previous quarter.

There were 17 271 assaults on women, 1 579 more than in the same quarter of the previous year and 3 570 more than in the previous quarter.

Between October and December, 319 children were murdered, 33 fewer than in the same quarter the previous year, but four more than the period between July and September.

There were 488 attempted murders of children, 94 more than the same quarter of the previous year and 194 more than in the previous quarter.

There were 2 039 assaults with intent to do grievous bodily harm on children, nine fewer than the same quarter of the previous year, but 144 more than in the previous quarter.

The portfolio committee will meet again next week to discuss the statistics in more detail.

In a statement released shortly after the briefing, lobby group Action Society described the statistics as a "bloodbath".

Ian Cameron, director of community safety at Action Society, said: 

According to Action Society, the South African Police Service (SAPS) does not have any preventative measures in place, no crime intelligence to speak of, and all the country's detectives are severely overworked.

It all flows down from the compromised senior ranks of the police, the organisation said.

"We are in this war because of cadre deployment and political interference in matters concerning criminal justice," said Cameron.

"The ANC does not want the criminal justice system to work properly because they would be caught out as the biggest crime syndicate this country has seen in the past 30 years."

The release of the statistics followed the debate on President Cyril Ramaphosa's State of the Nation Address (SONA), in which several opposition speakers pointed out that violent crime increased during the years of his administration, with several calls on him to fire Police Minister Bheki Cele.

Responding to the debate on Thursday, Ramaphosa didn't address violent crime at all.