Police Minister Nathi Mthethwa will release South Africa’s crime statistics for the 2011/2012 financial year in Parliament on Thursday.
Mthethwa will be joined by national police commissioner Riah Phiyega.
Last year’s crime statistics showed the country’s murder rate had dropped by 6.5 percent to 15,940 murders.
Attempted murder decreased by 12.2 percent, and sexual offences by three percent.
The number of rape cases reported rose from 55,097 to 56,272.
During the period under review, 94 police officers were killed in the line of duty. This was down from the previous year’s figure of 110 police officers killed.
Assault with intent to inflict grievous bodily harm dropped by 4.5 percent, while robbery with aggravating circumstances was down by 12 percent.
House robberies declined 10 percent to 16,889 cases during the 2010/11 financial year — the first decrease since 2004.
Car hijackings dropped by 23.6 percent to 10,700 cases, while truck hijackings decreased 29.2 percent with 413 reported cases.
Cash-in-transit crimes were down 18.7 percent and bank robberies declined by 58 percent.
The number of burglaries at residential premises dropped to 4.8 percent but there was an increase in non-residential robberies of 0.9 percent, particularly among small businesses like spaza shops, supermarkets and schools.
Cases of drunken driving or driving under the influence of drugs were up by 4.5 percent.
Commercial crime rose 2.8 percent. This was increasingly dominated by cyber-crime. – Sapa