Crime is declining in South Africa with fewer robberies, rapes and murders — but more than 50 people are still killed every day, police said on Monday.
Annual crime statistics showed that the murder rate dropped 4.7 percent on the previous year with 18,487 people killed from April last year to March.
Incidents of rape in the same period decreased 8.8 percent but a staggering 36,000 women were raped last year. The number of children murdered increased by 22.2 percent, police said.
South Africa has one of the highest murder and rape rates in the world, earning it an international reputation for violence.
The government welcomed the decline but said the level of crime was still much too high as it prepares to host the 2010 World Cup soccer tournament.
“[The] government is still concerned that while they are going down, the levels of crime continue to be unacceptably high,” Safety and Security Minister Charles Nqakula said. “[It] would have wanted to see a more drastic decrease.”
Nqakula said the drop in the number of rapes was not an indication that the “scourge is lessening.”
Figures show that the murder level is at its lowest since 1994 and serious violent crimes such as robbery, assault and attempted murder decreased by 6.4 percent.
However, house robberies increased by 13.5 percent and carjackings by 4.4 percent while robberies at businesses rose 47.4 percent.
Chris De Kock, head of crime information management for the police, said the number of children under the age of 18 who had been murdered had increased from 1,152 to 1,410.
He called this “a very, very serious issue.” The number of attempted murders of children increased by 13.7 percent as well.
De Kock said most children murdered were between the ages of 16 and 18 and that most were killed by other children. Many incidents were gang related.
Johan Burger, analyst with the Pretoria-based Institute for Security Studies, said the statistics were “good news” for South Africans.
However, he said the increases in robberies of homes and small businesses are bad for the economy.
Police director Andre Pruis said the country’s security plan for the 2010 soccer tournament had been submitted to the world soccer governing body in Geneva on Monday.
Pruis said police have received 665 million rand (US$84.5 million) for equipment, including 10 water cannons, six helicopters and 10 unmanned aircraft fitted with cameras.
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