Transport minister Blade Nzimande has been left dismayed by the rise in road fatalities during this festive season after 767 people lost their lives.

Nzimande said this during the release of the mid-festive season preliminary report in Pretoria on Thursday.

He said the Northern Cape recorded a 71% increase in the number of fatalities since December 1, while the Free State recorded an increase of 53% and KwaZulu-Natal recorded 46%.

“A total of 767 fatalities have been recorded so far in this festive period which is a 16% increase on the previous period,” Nzimande said.

KwaZulu-Natal recorded the highest number of fatalities, with 162 killed in crashes. This was followed by Gauteng with 125 fatalities. Despite this, Gauteng recorded a 10% decrease.

“Limpopo and Eastern Cape have 89 fatalities each, while Mpumalanga has 82, Western Cape 81, Free State 78, North West 57 and Northern Cape 24,” he said.

Nzimande said despite Northern Cape reflecting the lowest number of fatalities recorded, it had the highest percentage increase.

He said males constituted 72% of the total fatalities recorded since December 1.

“Very disturbingly, the contribution of females has increased from 23% to 27% while the incidents where the gender could not be determined have been reduced from 5% to 1%."