Cape Town - Police have revealed that murder has increased during the last quarter of last year with an increase of 8.9%.
Major-General Norman Sekhukhune told the portfolio committee on police that there were more people murdered between October and December last year than the previous quarter.
He said 6 859 people were murdered during this three-month period and this was 562 more people murdered than between July and September.
Sekhukhune also said there was a decrease in rape cases during the last quarter.
He said rape decreased by 903 cases, which was a decrease of 7.4%. There were 11 315 people who were raped during this period.
He also said sexual assault cases decreased by 302 cases as 2 069 cases were reported.
Police Minister Bheki Cele was part of the presentation with his commissioner Khehla Sitole as Sekhukhune gave MPs a breakdown of the cases.
The police were trying to clamp down on violent crime in the country with more resources requested from the government.
Some of the MPs had complained about the reduction of the police budget by billions in the last few years saying it would undermine the fight against crime.
The Minister of Finance, Enoch Godongwana, will table his budget next week Wednesday where security cluster ministers would also be allocated funds to fight crime and corruption.
President Cyril Ramaphosa has also promised to crack down on crime saying they need to hire more officers to enable the state to deal with the crime situation.
Political parties have called on the government to reclaim the streets from criminals.
Political Bureau