WHILE the majority of murder victims in South Africa are killed with firearms, the prevalence of knife attacks continue to be a concern.
Over the last few weeks the deaths of Stellenbosch FC star Oshwin Andries, Tshwane University of Technology (TUT) student Ntokozo Xaba and Cape Town police officer Siphumeze Lusasa made headlines.
They are among the high number of people stabbed to death each week.
Andries was stabbed during a fight at a tavern near his Klapmuts home on January 29. Five days later 21-year-old Xaba was found dead at her campus residence on February 3 which resulted in the arrest of Junior Blue Bulls player and former boyfriend Ngcebo Thusi.
Captain Lusasa was stabbed to death in Khayelitsha in January.
In a period of two weeks, Cape Town’s busiest hospital, Groote Schuur, admitted 41 patients with stab wounds during the last week of January and beginning of this month.
The hospital’s spokesperson Alaric Jacobs said: “The trauma unit received six females and 35 males, between January 23 and February 5.”
Western Cape health department’s spokesperson Byron La Hoe said its Forensic Pathology Services had a total of 33 admissions of unnatural causes of death due to sharp objects during the last week of January and earlier this month.
Police spokesperson Brigadier Novela Potelwa said several hotspots have been identified where most stabbings are likely to happen in the Western Cape.
“The prevalence of the stabbing incidents is commonly recorded in areas such as Nyanga, Delft, Philippi East, Kraaifontein, Mitchells Plain, Gugulethu and Khayelitsha,” she said.
“The analysis of crime by the SAPS in the Western Cape shows that knives and other sharp instruments contribute significantly to murders recorded in the province.
“It is on this basis that police stations located within the identified hotspots conduct regular operations at schools, entertainment spots, liquor outlets and other social settings in an effort to curb stabbings that lead to murder and attempted murder cases.
“Large quantities of different types of knives are seized by police during these aforementioned operations with scores of suspects apprehended.”
Potelwa added that the circumstances which led to stabbing incidents among others were robberies, interpersonal arguments, domestic violence, the use of liquor and gang fights.
“Awareness drives on the dangers of knives as well as other dangerous sharp instruments are conducted in locations where these stabbing incidents are recorded,” she said.
Knives, including pangas (machetes), slip joint knives (oukapi), butcher knives as well as axe and sharp tools and scissors, were among the weapons police seized during operations in one of the identified hotspots.
Institute for Security Studies Crime and Justice Information Hub manager Lizette Lancaster said while the number of killings by knives had decreased in the past decade as guns have become more accessible - they still came in second to the contribution of murders in the country.
“Most murders in the country, 60%, are perpetrated with firearms followed by knives used in 20% of murders, as seen from a SAPS docket analysis of 6 342 murders from July to September 2022,” she explained.
“Firearms are especially used in murders in Gauteng, the Western Cape and KwaZulu-Natal. A decade ago, knives were the most prevalent instrument used to kill but firearms have become more accessible and have been a key driver of the country’s rising murder rate.”
Weekend Argus