A total of 21‚022 people were murdered in South Africa between April 1 2018 and March 31 this year‚ while 52‚420 were victims of sexual offences.

This is an increase of 1.4% and 4.6% respectively.

Shockingly‚ there were 736 murders committed by children.

The weekend contributes 60% of the murders (Friday to Sunday). If you include Monday‚ that figure goes to 70%.

These are some of the latest SAPS crime stats released in parliament on Thursday morning briefing by national police commissioner General Khehla Sitole‚ SAPS statistics chief Major General Norman Sekhukhune and Police Minister Bheki Cele.

"There is a very high number of people that are murdered by people they know‚" Cele commented.

“Why do people behave like they are coming from moon on weekends?” Cele asked. He said they are seeking help from experts‚ including sociologists‚ in a bid to find answers to this question.

There are other crimes that go beyond policing‚ Cele signalled. Referring to the case in Mpumalanga where a mother killed her four children‚ he said‚ "It’s classified as murder but we are looking at getting a new code for that. Because police can’t police that."

All provinces have recorded increases when it comes to contact crimes.

Nyanga station in the Western Cape leads when it comes to trio crimes. But Gauteng has 19 stations featuring in the top 30.

Murder cases reported were highest in Nyanga (289)‚ followed by Delft‚ Khayelitsha‚ Inanda‚ Philippi East‚ Mthatha‚ Umlazi‚ Harare in the Western Cape‚ Plessislaer and Gugulethu.

Attempted murder cases across SA increased by 4.1% to 1‚898.

A 23.1% decrease in cash-in-transit heists was recorded while a 1% increase was noted in aggravated robbery with 140‚032 cases.

Property-related crimes as a whole decreased by 12‚804 (2.5%). Stock theft saw the biggest increase in this category (up by 2.9%).

There were 47 farm murders in 41 incidents.

Cele and Sitole said the crime statistics were vetted and declared official by SA's statistician-general.

- TMG Digital.