Gauteng sees overall decrease in murders, but not for women and children

Lt-Gen Tommy Mthombeni tables crime statistics for second quarter

While there was a slight decrease in murders in Gauteng between July and September, more women and children were killed compared to the same period the previous year, with more children also facing attempted murder and assault charges. 

Gauteng police tabled the second quarter crime statistics for the 2024/25 year before the provincial portfolio committee on community safety on Friday, which saw an overall decrease in most major crimes. 

Provincial police commissioner Lt-Gen Tommy Mthombeni said Gauteng witnessed a 6% reduction in crime, meaning “crime reports went down by 6,525 counts”. He said Gauteng was the only province that managed to reduce 15 of the 17 community reported crimes, accounting for 26.9% of the national overall crime rate.

Contact crimes, which include murder, attempted murder, assault GBH, common assault and aggravated robbery, decreased in the quarter by 7.6%, said Mthombeni.

Murder decreased by 2.8%, meaning 46 less counts were reported during the quarter with Johannesburg having the largest decrease of 10.3% with 70 less murders reported. This was followed by Tshwane which reduced by 29 counts and Ekurhuleni recorded 27 fewer counts.

However, the West Rand had 51 more murders compared to the same three-month period last year, while Sedibeng recorded a 19.9% increase in murder cases with 29 more murders than last year.

Statistics presented by Brig Mpho Chakalane showed that murder increased among women and children: 264 more women were killed between July and September, a 53.5% increase (92 counts). However, attempted murder of women decreased by 2% and assault GBH was down by 383 counts to 2,742 cases.

The three crimes however increased when it came to children as 15 more minors were killed, increasing the child murder rate by 44.1% to 49 from 34 reported cases.

“For attempted murder an increase also of 3% and assault GBH, 12 more [reported cases],” Chakalane said.

Attempted murder of children went up by 6% while assault GBH saw a 4.3% rise.

“Notably, murder, attempted murder and assault-related offences showed a decline. However, sexual offences, particularly rape and sexual assault saw an increase,” Mthombeni said.

Rape saw an increase of 75 counts compared to the same period in the previous year, with 2,171 rape cases reported compared to 2,096 previously. 

Sexual offences increased by 81 counts and sexual assault went up by 14 counts. Coming top was Johannesburg, which saw an increase of 18.6% with 125 more rapes recorded. Ekurhuleni followed with an increase of 2.8% with 17 more cases of rape reported in the quarter.

The largest decrease was in Tshwane, which saw 47 fewer rapes reported, followed by the West Rand with 18 fewer counts. Sedibeng saw four fewer rape cases opened.

With the country observing 16 days of activism against women and child abuse which kicked off on November 25, Mthombeni said combating crimes against women and children remained a priority for police all year round.

He said the family violence, child protection and sexual offences (FCS) unit arrested 1,031 suspects for sexual offences and 155 of those went to court — 130 sexual offenders were handed a sentence of a combined 27 life terms and 1,042 years' imprisonment.

Serial rapist Nkosinathi Emmanuel Phakathi, known as the “Benoni Serial Rapist”, was convicted of 148 counts, including 90 counts of rape and 43 counts of kidnapping. He was handed 42 life sentences and an additional 791 years and six months' imprisonment on October 4.

“This special unit has conducted 119 targeted awareness campaigns, reaching a total of 97,767 adults and 21,510 children. These campaigns concentrate on strengthening partnerships with relevant stakeholders as well as on creating awareness on the importance of reporting sexual offences and gender-based violence and femicide.”

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