Death, mayhem and destruction. Rape, sexual assault and pillaging. All of them on the rise in South Africa.

Yet acting national police commissioner Lieutenant-General Lesetja Mothiba is confident that citizens have faith in the country's thin blue line of policemen and women.

"I am confident that South Africans are confident in our organisation," said Mothiba at a press conference just hours after the release of the crime statistics yesterday.

South Africa's latest police crime statistics paint a picture of a country at war with itself.

South Africans, according to the Institute for Security Studies (ISS), are now 13% more likely to be murdered than they were in 2012.

Mbalula's solutions to crime: tactical units‚ increase booze tax 

Murder has risen by 1.8% to 19016 killings in the 2016/2017 financial year when compared to the 2015/2016 financial year. That equates to 52 murders a day - five times the global rate. Of those killed, 3478 were women and children.

Murder increased in four of the nine provinces - KwaZulu-Natal, Western Cape, Gauteng and Mpumalanga.

Sexual offences have dropped by 4.3%, from 51895 to 49660, with rape decreasing by 4%, from 41503 to 39828. Car hijackings increased by 14.5%, from 14602 to 16717. Robbery in residential areas and non-residential areas has increased by 7.3% and 5%, respectively.

Drug-related crimes increased by 12.9%, from 259165 to 292689. According to police statistics, there are 52 attempted murders and 61 home robberies on average a day, with 46 vehicles hijacked daily - along with 16 aggravated (violent) robberies occurring every hour (386 per day).

Get in real cops to fight crime and dump Hollywood style bosses in SAPS‚ says union 

For Police Minister Fikile Mbalula it's back to basics - the rejuvenation of police war rooms and defunct crime intelligence capabilities.

"It will be expensive, but it is steps we have to take. It cannot be business as usual or unusual," he said. "We have to revive specialised units, have competent police officers who know how to investigate crimes, make arrests and ensure that cases are so solid that we secure convictions. Criminals have too many rights in this country, while our citizens' rights are trampled on."

Gareth Newham, ISS crime and justice programme head, said the statistics remained seven months out of date.

He said the most disturbing thing was that the two categories that were the most reliable indicators of violent crime - murder and armed robbery - continued to increase.

"We are now 13% more likely to be murdered than five years ago. Aggravated robbery shows how profound the failures of police leadership have become."