Lockdown contributed to 'never-seen-before' crime stats: Cele
Police Minister Bheki Cele says the high levels of crime revealed in the latest stats can be attributed to the lockdown.
Releasing the figures in Pretoria on Friday, Cele said most crime categories had seen double-digit increases between April this year and the end of June.
Cele says the figures must be understood within context.
READ: Double-digit increases in crimes: Cele
"The sub-categories of crimes such as contact crimes, sexual offences, aggravated robberies, contact-related and property-related crimes have recorded a never seen before double-digit increases.
"Ordinarily, this would have been catastrophic, but I assure the nation, this is not the case.
"We cannot compare the same period of this year and last year, due to the skewed and abnormal crime trends, caused by the different levels of Lockdown, if we are to understand this crime picture that we are presenting to you today."
Cele says there were also over 100 farm attacks during the three months.
"One hundred and eighty-one attacks on farms and small-holdings occurred between April and the end of June 2021. One hundred and nineteen of the incidents were robbery related, resulting in 15 murders.
