Gauteng crime stats: 45 children murdered in three months

Forty-five children were murdered in Gauteng in the first three months of the year, according to the quarterly provincial crime stats released on Tuesday. 

Gauteng police commissioner Lt-Gen Elias Mawela presented the province’s fourth quarterly crime statistics for the 2021/22 financial year to the provincial legislature’s portfolio committee on community safety.

In his response to the statistics, which showed a 45.2% increase in murder overall in the province, Mawela blamed social ills for assaults.

“The social ills within our communities are the main root causes for assault incidents. Should the community adopt better, acceptable means of conflict management and reduce substance abuse, surely some categories of crime, such as domestic violence, gender-based violence, murder and attempted murder, will be reduced.”

Mawela stressed the statistics compared lockdown level 3 in 2021 with level 1 in 2022. The difference was important as it measured a time in 2021 when there were heavy restrictions on the movement of people and a curfew versus more relaxed restrictions under level 1.

“The anticipated honeymoon period is over. We expected the increase in criminality as  lockdown regulations eased.”

Crimes against women and children form a category known as gender-based violence (GBV). President Cyril Ramaphosa announced a GBVF (gender-based violence and femicide) response fund last year in response to a rise in case some have referred to as a second pandemic. 

Murders of children increased by 20 reported cases this year, an increase of 80% from last year’s 25 cases.

There were fewer sexual offences reported, with 1,108 cases compared to last year's 1,145 cases. Incidents of child rape, however, increased to 866 cases compared to 829 cases last year. 

Other statistics include:

• attempted murder: 70 cases, a 150% increase from 28 last year;
• assault intended to inflict grievous bodily harm (GBH): 338 cases, a 19.9% increase from 282 last year; and
• common assault: 581 cases, a 22.3% increase from 475 last year.

There were 189 women murdered in the first quarter of the year, an increase of 48.8% from 127 in the same period last year.

Statistics for women included:

• sexual offences: 2,104 cases, a 20.6% increase from 1,745 last year;
• attempted murder: 332 cases, a 72% increase from 193 last year;
• assault intended to inflict GBH: 3,214 cases, a 17.7% increase from 2,731 last year; and
• common assault: 7,049 cases, an 18.4% increase from 5,955 last year.

Domestic violence-related incidents in the province increased month by month in the first quarter of the year, with 2,282 reported incidents in January, 2,859 in February and 3,075 in March. There were 8,216 cases in total in the first three months of the year.

According to the report, the highest rates of domestic violence were reported in the Johannesburg district with 3,309 cases, making up 40.3% of the overall count, followed by the Ekurhuleni district with 1,852 cases. Tshwane district recorded 1,846 cases, the West Rand had 771 cases and Sedibeng 438.

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