South African police arrest a suspect

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Figures show the murder rate has soared by more than seven percent with the deaths of more than 20,000 people in a year. Police minister Bheki Cele said: “It borders close to a war zone while there is a peace. “We haven’t reached a state of lawlessness in South Africa and we won’t. “This situation must be reversed with lightning speed.”

It borders close to a war zone while there is a peace Bheki Cele

The rise is the biggest single increase since the end of the apartheid regime 24 years ago. The statistics also show a significant rise in sexual offences, to 50,108, up from 49,660 in 2016-17. The majority of the sexual offences recorded were rapes. But there was a decrease in the number of burglaries from residential properties, shoplifting and arson and overall reported crime was down by more than four percent. Mr Cele said South Africans should not “take it as a norm that when on the road, you must be hijacked, or when at home, someone must break in and terrorise you and your family”.

Violent crime in South Africa is at its highest level since the apartheid era

Gareth Newham, an expert in crime at the Institute for Security Studies in Pretoria, said murder rates were considered the most reliable indicators of violence in South Africa and the rise was “a red flag, a wake-up call”. Mr Newham praised the willingness of Mr Cele to focus on the murder rate. He said: “It was a new approach. He did not bury his head in the sand and showed a willingness to do things differently. That is a reason to give us hope.” Experts attribute the 17 percent rise in the murder rate over last five years – after a 55 percent drop over previous 17 years – to a range of factors including police corruption, nepotism in appointments to senior law enforcement posts and a deteriorating economic environment.