CAPE TOWN, Oct. 24 (Xinhua) -- South Africa has seen a rise in violent crimes in the 2016-2017 financial year, with murders and aggravated robberies up 1.8 percent and 6.4 percent respectively, Police Minister Fikile Mbalula said on Tuesday.
The level for murders and aggravated robberies remains a concern, the minister said while presenting crime statistics to Parliament's Portfolio Committee on Police.
The trio crimes of car-jacking, and residential and non-residential robberies are also up again, Mbalula said.
Car-jacking was the most serious, almost climbing back up to late 1990s levels, according to Mbalula.
But he said there has been a 1.8 percent decrease in community-reported serious crimes, driven mainly by reductions in contact crimes.
Following two successive years of increases in contact crimes, there's been a 2.4 percent reduction in this category during the 2016-2017 financial year, Mbalula said.
Most contact crimes are social in nature as they occur among people who know one another, the minister said.
For this reason, it is extremely difficult for the South African Police Service (SAPS) to prevent the levels of such crimes alone, Mbalula said.
Sexual offenses were also down 4.3 percent, with incidents of rape decreasing by 4 percent in particular, said Mbalula.
The minister vowed to intensify anti-crime operations, warning criminals that they will be dealt with in a "proportional response."
Responding to calls for deployment of the South African National Defense Force (SANDF) in gang-stricken areas, Mbalula said it is still the president's prerogative to deploy the SANDF, not his as police minister.
But he pledged that police would work hard not only to bring stability back to areas hard hit by gang violence, but also stamp out violent gangs.
