South Africa is ‘close to a war zone’ with 57 murders a DAY, says police minister
South Africa’s police minister has compared the country to a ‘war zone’
More than 20,300 people were killed from April 2017 to March 2018
The already high murder rate increased by seven per cent year-on-year
DAILYMAIL.COM
11 September 2018
South Africa’s already high murder rate has increased by about seven per cent, prompting the country’s police minister to compare the situation to a ‘war zone.’
More than 20,300 people – some 57 every day – have been killed across the country in just 12 months, official statistics showed Tuesday.
Many murders were linked to gang violence in Western Cape province, whose capital is Cape Town.
A total of 20,336 people were killed between April 2017 and the end of March 2018, up from 19,016 the previous year.
The numbers reflect a 6.9 percent year-on-year increase, one of the highest per capita since the end of apartheid 24 years ago.
‘Fifty-seven a day, that’s how South Africans are murdered. It borders close to the war zone while there is a peace, there is no war in South Africa,’ Police Minister Bheki Cele told reporters.
‘The figures that always scare me are murder figures,’ he said.
‘South Africans must not take it as a norm that they can be hijacked, robbed and killed every day. We have to pick up the ball and change the situation for the better.’
Francois Beukman, who heads the police oversight committee in parliament, described the numbers as ‘alarming and totally unacceptable’.
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