Image: Western Cape Gang Watch web page
From the streets, to petrol stations, to parks and parking lots, you are most likely to be killed in public, the crime statistics revealed on Friday morning.
According to the annual statistics released by police minister Bheki Cele, a whopping 9,714 people were murdered in a public place.
Between April 2019 and March 2020, a total of 7,735 attempted murder and 30,272 assault GBH cases were reported in a public space.
Last week, Cele allocated R57bn towards visible policing from the ministry’s R105.5bn budget for 2020/21.
Cele said gender-based violence (GBV), political killings and farm murders were some of the most stubborn crimes plaguing the country.
He dedicated this year’s budget to the fight against GBV and to officers deployed on the front line during the coronavirus pandemic.
Overall, 5,522 people were murdered at residences, while 853 were murdered at shebeens and 467 at business premises.
The statistics further showed that 232 people were killed in modes of transport, 166 were murdered on a farm or smallholding and a total of 88 people were murdered at a lake or river.
The recent murder of an elderly couple and their daughter on their farm in Hartswater sent shock waves across the country. Danie, 83, and Breggie Brand, 73, and their daughter Elzabie, 54, were found dead in open fields in the Taung area on Tuesday. Five suspects have appeared in court for the brutal murders.
Shockingly, 33 people were murdered at a petrol station while a further 60 attempted murder and 269 assault GBH cases were opened.
Last year, people including taxi bosses, gang “bosses” and a lawyer were gunned down at petrol stations across the country.
