Crime in SA | 12,211 rapes reported in three months

PRETORIA - The latest crime stats for the period between October and December last year were released on Friday.

While there's been a slight drop in rape cases, over 12,000 people were raped in just three months.

Over 2,000 children were assaulted with intent to cause bodily harm with over 18, 000 women going through assault.

READ: Over 7,000 murdered between October and December 2023

"The fight against GBVF crimes remains a priority for our men and women in blue," said Police Minister Bheki Cele.

"That is why we are encouraged to report that all our sexual offences crimes including rape, sexual assault and contact sexual offences all registered an overall 1.7 percent decline during this period."

DNA backlog has remained a major challenge, but Cele said there is no more backlog and more capacity has been added.

* eNCA's Heidi Giokos reports.