Murders: Gangs are blamed

Cape Town regularly features on international websites as having one of the highest murder rates in the world.

But the disparity in crime figures - as illustrated by the latest crime statistics released last week - shows a city with a hugely skewed crime problem.

While upmarket areas such as Camps Bay, Sea Point, Rondebosch and Simon's Town recorded no murders in the past year, the sprawling precinct of Nyanga reported a massive 305 murders - up from 265 from the year before.

Murder was also high in the townships of Harare, in Khayelitsha (164), Gugulethu (150) and greater Khayelitsha (146).

Western Cape had a total of 2909 murders in the past year.

Yesterday, provincial commissioner Arno Lamoer said gang violence and high alcohol and drug abuse had pushed up the murder rate.

He said police stations were also under-resourced and an increasing number of service delivery strikes were forcing him to divert resources meant for crime fighting.

Councillor JP Smith, responsible for safety and security in the Cape Town council, blamed Lamoer for the disparity.

He said: "You have to ask Lamoer why there are such grotesque and horrendous staff shortages. Why is Western Cape sitting with 60% of all the vacancies in the country?"

KwaZulu-Natal recorded a slight drop in murder from 3629 recorded in 2012-2013 to 3625. Murder also spiked in Gauteng from 2299 in 2012-2013 to 3333. It also shot up from four to 10 in Sandton.