Murders, sexual offences increase, crime stats show

Police Minister Bheki Cele is painting the latest picture of how we are faring in the war on the scourge.

Police and forensic experts comb the scene of a shooting after prominent advocate Pete Mihalik was gunned down outside a Cape Town school on 30 October 2018. Picture: Kaylynn Palm/EWN

CAPE TOWN - Murders have increased by 3.4% in the current financial year, Members of Parliament heard on Thursday.

Police Minister Bheki Cele painted a bleak picture on South Africa's war on crime, saying before the presentation in Parliament that the statistics were "not very rosy".

According to the statistics, 21,022 murders were recorded for the 2018/2019 financial year. The figure was 686 more than the previous year.

Sexual offences increased by 4.6%, attempted murder jumped by 4.1%, robberies at residential properties increased by 0.8% while there was a decrease in drug-related crimes.

While all the provinces recorded increases in contact crimes (crimes committed against a person), KwaZulu-Natal, the Western Cape, the Eastern Cape and Gauteng recorded the highest volumes of these.

In other figures released on Thursday, crimes against women decreased by 5.4% while child murders and sexual offences against children increased, while 47 farm murders were also recorded.

WATCH: Police Minister releases crime stats