19,016 murders
With 19,016 murders reported between April 2016 and March 2017, the murder rate in 2016–17 rose to 52 per day. The number of innocent bystanders killed in the crossfire of gang violence has also increased significantly.
In which SA province was the murder rate in 2016 the highest?
The world’s most violent cities include Gqeberha, Cape Town, Durban, and Johannesburg. The city had 1,853 murders (down from 2,182 in 2020), with a murder rate of 30.8 per 100,000 residents, placing it 48th overall.
Which South African province has the highest crime rate?
The provinces with the most multiple murders were KwaZulu-Natal, Gauteng, and the Eastern Cape, where two or more victims were slain simultaneously.
Across the nation, 1,350 murders were attributed to vigilantism and mob justice during the 2020–21 fiscal year. Fatal drive-by shootings with either known or unclear motives occur frequently. Mob justice is frequently meted out in informal settlements where the police are distrusted and where frustration with high crime levels runs high. The Nigerian president abstained from the Africa Economy Summit in Cape Town in September 2019 as a result of the deadly rioting against immigrants. To help shooting victims, paramedics and police frequently have to enter dangerous situations; some paramedics now wear bulletproof vests. In the 1990s, there were hardly any attacks on Cape Town’s paramedics, but there were 288 attacks in 2016, 22 attacks in 2019, 68 attacks in 2020, and more than 60 attacks in 2021. Regular killings of women suspected of witchcraft are a pattern that is linked to illiteracy and poverty. Since many people have lost their lives in muggings, courts inflict the harshest punishments.
