{"id":677737,"date":"2023-04-09T15:00:44","date_gmt":"2023-04-09T13:00:44","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/?p=677737"},"modified":"2023-04-06T15:49:58","modified_gmt":"2023-04-06T13:49:58","slug":"getting-away-with-murder-in-south-africa","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/lifestyle\/677737\/getting-away-with-murder-in-south-africa\/","title":{"rendered":"Getting away with murder in South Africa"},"content":{"rendered":"

South Africa’s unacceptably high murder rate is made only more alarming by the number of cases that constitute mass murder – and the low number of convictions for those arrested.<\/p>\n

According to the South African Police Service’s (SAPS’) latest<\/a> crime statistics, 27,066 murders were recorded in the calendar year of 2022, averaging 74 people murdered every day.<\/strong><\/p>\n

While this is already an alarming number, a five-year view of the data shows a clear picture of murder rates on the rise.<\/p>\n

Many crime categories subsided in 2020 and 2021 due to the Covid-19 pandemic and lockdown, but South Africans\u2019 violent tendencies still managed to shine through.<\/p>\n

Despite the lockdowns in 2020, murders in South Africa still recorded an average of 53 a day before resurging in 2021 to 65 per day and 74 per day in 2022.<\/p>\n

Put into greater context, a murder rate of 43.7 per 100,000 people (seen in 2022) makes South Africa one of the most violent places in the world<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Mass murder and conviction rate in South Africa<\/strong><\/p>\n

Painting an even bleaker picture of the current state of violent crimes in South Africa is that there have been 2,446 incidences of mass murder in the country since 2019.<\/strong><\/p>\n

This is according to a recent parliamentary Q&A, in which police minister Bheki Cele revealed the total number of incidents of mass murder across South Africa where two or more persons were killed in the same incident.<\/p>\n

Cele’s response also included the number of victims in each incident, those arrested and have appeared in court, and those ultimately found guilty.<\/p>\n

The statistics presented by Cele showed that the 2,446 incidents of mass murder across the country from 2019 to December 2022 accounted for 5,709 murder victims.<\/p>\n

This represents an estimated 2.3 victims per incident. Of the 2,446 incidents, only 1,511 individuals were arrested, with those accused presented before the courts.<\/p>\n

Of the 1,511 persons arrested and charged, only 103 were convicted for the murders \u2013 representing a conviction rate of only 6.8%.\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n

Over the review period, 2021\/2022 was the worst year for mass murders in South Africa, although arguably the first three quarters of 2022\/2023 (ending December 2022) have it beat, with 701 incidents (vs 769) over fewer months.<\/p>\n

A worrying trend in the data is the number of incidents and victims escalating, but the number of arrests not following suit, and worse – the number of convictions declining significantly. Cases against those arrested may still be ongoing, however.<\/p>\n

\n
\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n
Year<\/th>\nIncidents<\/th>\nVictims<\/th>\nArrests<\/th>\nConvicted<\/th>\n<\/tr>\n
2019\/2020<\/td>\n438<\/td>\n1 009<\/td>\n372<\/td>\n50<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
2020\/2021<\/td>\n538<\/td>\n1 245<\/td>\n343<\/td>\n37<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
2021\/2022<\/td>\n769<\/td>\n1 791<\/td>\n408<\/td>\n13<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
April – December 2022<\/td>\n701<\/td>\n1 664<\/td>\n388<\/td>\n3<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Total<\/strong><\/td>\n2 446<\/strong><\/td>\n5 709<\/strong><\/td>\n1 511<\/strong><\/td>\n103<\/strong><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table><\/div>\n<\/div>\n

Reasons for the murders<\/strong><\/p>\n

According to the SAPS, the why, how and where of murder in South Africa are broadly the same as they have always been.<\/p>\n

Most reported murders occur due to arguments, misunderstandings, road rage and provocation. The second most common cause is a result of vigilantism and mob justice, followed by retaliation or revenge.<\/p>\n

A significant number of people are also murdered during robberies and in gang-related crimes, the SAPS said.<\/p>\n

Most murders take place in a public place, such as a street or an open field or a parking area \u2013 or at the residence of the victim (including places known to the victim or perpetrator). A small percentage takes place on farms or on rural holdings, with 11 murders recorded at residential farms.<\/p>\n

Worryingly, women are far more likely to be a victim of murder in South Africa than men \u2013 almost three times as many women than men were murdered over the period.<\/p>\n

In most murder cases, a gun was used as the murder weapon, followed by knives, sharp instruments, blunt instruments, body parts, and bricks\/stones.<\/p>\n

\n

Read: Major headache for South Africans with car insurance<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

A recent parliamentary Q&A added to South Africa’s already shocking murder statistics. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":10,"featured_media":642205,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[9876],"tags":[26,17963],"class_list":["post-677737","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-lifestyle","tag-headline","tag-parliamentary-qa"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/677737","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/10"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=677737"}],"version-history":[{"count":9,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/677737\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":679043,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/677737\/revisions\/679043"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/642205"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=677737"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=677737"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=677737"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}