The second quarter of the year saw 6,228 cases of murder recorded in South Africa, down 3.1% during the same period of 2022. This is the first decline since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic, the country's police ministry reported.
"For the first time since COVID-19 reached our shores in 2020, the murder rate of the country has declined in a single quarter," Police Minister Bheki Cele told a press conference in Pretoria.
While crime levels are "still unacceptably high [...] police are pushing back on crime," and figures "starting to show some decreases", the official said.
The crime statistics, which are presented every quarter in a live broadcast, had been steadily rising over the past few months, according to the ministry.
The southern African country, one of the most dangerous in the world, saw its last significant drop in violent crime as a result of the COVID-19 lockdown imposed in March 2020.
"The 3.1% decline in the murder rate is no cause for celebration," Cele warned, adding, "6,228 is not just a number. It is people whose lives were cut short at the hands of another."
Three people were murdered every hour in the first three months of the year, the ministry revealed. Firearms, knives and sharp objects are the weapons of choice for the murders.
The number of rapes reported to the police also dropped by 2.8 percent.
"The crime figures show that the majority of sexual assaults are still taking place between people that are familiar with each other," the official noted, adding, "Fighting crime starts in the home."