SA's daily 'crime bloodbath' by numbers: DA

The latest crime statistics reveal a daily “violent bloodbath” in the country with, on average, 67 people murdered per day in the first three months of the year, the DA said on Friday.

There were 6,083 murders between January and March.

DA MP Andrew Whitfield said: “That amounts to more than 67 murders per day. There were 10,818 rapes in that same period which meant 153 people were raped every day.”

Breaking down some of the other reported figures, he said between January and March there were:

• 32,783 robberies with aggravated circumstances (364 per day)
• 3,306 kidnappings, up 109.2% from the previous period (36.7 per day)
• 5,402 car hijackings (60 per day)
• 547 attempted rapes, up 26.3% from last year (six per day)
• 21.5 children were violently assaulted every day

“The DA believes that [police] minister [Bheki] Cele has proven time and again why he is not fit to serve in his position and yet, in spite of overwhelming evidence that minister Cele is failing, president [Cyril] Ramaphosa keeps him in cabinet,” Whitfield said.

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