DA to probe increase in child murders
05 August 2014
A recent reply to a DA parliamentary question, asked by Mike Waters MP, revealed that the number of murder cases reported against children has gone up from 793 in 2011/2012 to 827 in 2012/2013. This is cause for great concern.
The Minister of Police, Nathi Nhleko, also shockingly revealed, in his reply, that these child murders were committed using firearms, knives, knobkerries, fire and even pangas.
Minister Nhleko's sampled data only takes into consideration child murder allegations that have reached the courts between 2011 and 2013. It is certain that there are a multitude of child murder cases that never make it to court due to bungled investigations and a generally over-stretched South African Police Service (SAPS). The true number, including those cases that aren't even reported, could be significantly higher.
The South African Medical Research Council (SAHRC) found that cases following a post mortem investigation often end there and do not become subject to police investigation.