This was revealed on Thursday during the release of the provincial crime statistics by the MEC for Community Safety and Transport Management, Sello Lehari.

Brits and Rustenburg are said to have reported higher figures of hijackings, despite reporting 520 fewer incidents than in the 2018/19 financial year.

Lehari says the routes that have turned out to be hotspots for these hijackings include the N12, N14, N4, R24, and R512.

Meanwhile, Lehari adds that Rustenburg and Ikageng near Potchefstroom have the highest rate of residential burglaries.

Rustenburg is also among the top 30 areas in the country with high incidents of non-residential burglaries.

"Though certain categories of crimes went up, the Province is among the three that managed to bring down figures of aggravating crimes. Together as a nation, we can do more to combat the scourge of crime. Often our people see criminality taking place but do not want to be involved and this, needless to say, increase crime statistics,” he adds.

The crime statistics representing the period from April 1, 2019, to the end of March 2020 comes a few weeks after police minister, Bheki Cele, released the national crime stats.

"The release of today’s (Thursday) crime statistics is once more a commitment that we are steadfast in our aim to halve violent crimes and gender-based violence in the next decade,” Lehari further adds.

This statement comes as the province has in the past reported quite a number of violent crimes against women - some of whom were killed and raped.

OFM News