South Africa records more than two murders an hour

The number of murders and sexual offences have both increased in South Africa according to the latest set of statistics released by the authorities.

In the 2019 to 2020 period there were 21,325 murders in the country - amounting to more than two murders an hour. That's a 1.4% increase on the previous 12 months' figures.

Sexual offences rose by 1.7% with more than 53,000 crimes in this category recorded.

There has been growing anger in the country over the level of violence against women and these figures will not ease those concerns.

Police Minister Bheki Cele said he was worried that schools and universities were seeing a growing number of sexual offences, the SABC reports.

“It is of concern that educational institutions are becoming hotbeds for sexual violence, 380 cases of rape were reported at either schools, universities, colleges or day care facilities,” he is quoted as saying.

In general, property crimes were down but there was an increase of more than 13% in carjackings.