From house robberies to drunk-driving: Five must-read stories on 2018/2019 crime stats

Police minister Bheki Cele, police head statistician Maj-Gen Norman Sekhukhune and national police commissioner Khehla Sitole on Thursday addressed parliament on the 2018/2019 crime statistics.

Here are five must-read stories on the year's stats.

SA child murderers

From April 2018 to March 2019, police recorded 21,022 cases of murder in SA, with 736 of these having been committed by children. Sekhukhune said these crimes were a contributing factor in the country's increased murder rate.

Kidnapping most prevalent in Gauteng 

Even with the 4.8% decline in Gauteng kidnappings, the province still has the highest number of cases. A total of 2,109 cases were reported in the past year, with Kempton Park in the East Rand being the kidnapping hotspot. In contrast, Dobsonville in the south of Gauteng has reported a massive decline of 73.9% in kidnappings. 

Environmental crimes 

Twenty eight cases of Pangolin poaching were recorded in the past year. This rate has almost doubled from that of last year's 16 cases. Rhino and elephant poaching, however, have seen a massive decline, with 520 rhinos killed and 58 elephants killed in the year to March 2019. Lion poaching remained the same as cases stood at 18 which is last year's record.

Ivory Park has the highest residential robberies 

Areas including Sandton, Ivory Park and Mondeor have the highest residential robberies. In Ivory Park, cases of house robberies spiked from 321 in 2017/2018 to 373 in 2018/2019. Mondeor, in the south of Joburg, saw an increase of 58.2% and Sandton saw a 6.3% increase.

Gauteng has the most drunk-driving cases

Cases of drunk-driving in Gauteng, KwaZulu-Natal, Northern Cape, Western Cape and Eastern Cape have declined, but Gauteng remains in the lead with 30,203 cases followed by KZN with 17,577. The Northern Cape recorded the least cases at 652.