Crime rates rival war zones with 26 000 annual deaths

SOUTH Africa’s crime crisis has reached levels comparable to active conflict zones, with more than 26,000 people killed in a single year, prompting Parliament's security cluster to back the deployment of the military while warning it is no long-term solution.

- WENDY DONDOLO

SOUTH Africa's crime rates reach war zone levels, Parliament warns. I HENK KRUGER Independent Newspapers

(HENK KRUGER Independent Newspapers)

Portfolio Committee on Defence and Military Veterans chairperson, Dakota Legoete, delivered the stark assessment during a Peace and Security Cluster media briefing, describing the scale of violence as a direct threat to the country’s sovereignty.

“We are at a point where over 26 000 South Africans have died in a year at the hands of the criminal element,” Legoete said.

“These numbers are comparable to those in conflict zones such as Gaza, Ukraine, yet in our country, we normalise it.”