2015 Crime stats to be released today

Police Minister, Nkosinathi Nhleko and Acting National Commissioner Khomotso Phahlane are set to brief the portfolio committee on police in the morning.

The data in question relates to crimes reported to police stations between April 2015 and March this year.

The reported murder rate increased by almost 5% between 2013 and last year.

In the same period, reported sexual offences decreased by 5.4% and robbery with aggravating circumstances by 8.5%.

Nhleko told the committee last year that contact crimes (violent crimes against people) had decreased by 17.8% over the last 10 years.

"The one thing is we continue to have violence as a feature of our social outlook as a society. We essentially need to mobilise and tackle the prevalence of violence," he said.

He cautioned that contact crimes were a social phenomenon that needed to be dealt with in a multi-disciplinary way.

"To think we [the police alone] can resolve the murder in society is effectively a hallucination."