Mbalula reveals 14.5% increase in child murders in South Africa
12 October 2017
It has been revealed in a parliamentary reply that child murders in South Africa increased 14.5% year-on-year, totalling a truly appalling 969 cases in the 2014/2015 financial year.
In the answer to a DA question (first posed by MP Mike Waters in 2014) the Minister of Police admits the question had gone unanswered for more than three years. This really speaks to the lack of urgency shown by the government in tackling the scourge of child murders. The DA has been trying to get statistics for child homicide rates in South Africa for the past ten years, but have been frustrated by a government that is either unwilling to address the crisis, or is indifferent to it.
The Minister’s reply, covering a two year period, details the murder weapons used and includeS knives (604), firearms (397), sharp instruments (203), hands (177), sticks (78), stones/bricks (53), string/wire (30), poison (25), and axes (23).
These gruelling statistics serve as clear evidence that this government is failing our children and their silence on this matter is unacceptable.