Cape Town - KwaZulu-Natal experienced the largest drop in murders in South Africa in terms of murder cases, but still accounts for over one in five murders in the country.
This was revealed on Thursday when the 2011/12 crime statistics were released, which also reveal that Gauteng - although recording some of the biggest decreases in key crimes - still tops the list as the most crime-ridden province, while Limpopo saw significant increases in some key crimes.
When it comes to murder, KwaZulu-Natal experienced an 8% drop in murder cases, followed by Gauteng with a 7.5% drop.
The number of murder cases also fell slightly in the Western Cape, but remained unchanged in the Free State.
However, the number of murder cases increased in Mpumalanga, the Eastern Cape, the North West, Limpopo and the Northern Cape.
Among these, Limpopo experienced the biggest increase in murder cases - with an 11% increase in the number of cases, followed by the North West with an 8% increase in murder cases.
KwaZulu-Natal recorded the highest number of murders, at 3 422, followed by the Eastern Cape at 3 278, Gauteng at 3 012 and the Western Cape at 2 300.
The Northern Cape and Mpumalanga recorded the least number of murders, at 368 and 729 respectively.
Total sexual crimes fell in all provinces except for the Free State, Limpopo and the North West where these cases increased.
While the total number of sexual crime cases in South Africa fell from 2.5% from 66 196 to 64 514, Gauteng experienced the biggest drop in sexual crimes - with an 11% decline.
However, the province still has the highest number of sexual crimes at 12 419, followed by KwaZulu-Natal (12 288), the Western Cape (9 153) and the Eastern Cape (7 354).
Robberies at homes may have decreased by 1.9% across the country, but in all provinces except for Gauteng (where it fell by 10%) and KwaZulu-Natal (where it decreased by 6%) home robberies increased.
In all other provinces there were moderate increases in the number of house robberies, with the exception of Limpopo where house robbery cases rose 42% - from 530 to 754 cases and the Northern Cape where these more than doubled - from 41 to 89.
Business robberies, which rose overall by 7.5%, increased in all provinces except for Gauteng and KwaZulu-Natal where these declined by 8% and 2% respectively.
However, in Limpopo, business robberies rose by a massive 50%, while in the Eastern Cape business robberies rose by 31%, by 20% in the Western Cape and by 16% in the North West.
Gauteng still has the highest number of business robberies, at 5 116 or just under a third of all business robberies in the country.
Carjacking fell in all provinces except Eastern Cape where it rose by 18% and the Free State, where it increased by 21%.
Carjacking cases in the North West, at 236, remained unchanged over the 2010/11 year.
Gauteng experienced the biggest drop in carjacking cases, where these fell by 18%.
Despite this, the province still recorded over half of all carjacking cases (5 000), followed by KwaZulu-Natal (2 229) and the Eastern Cape (644).
The Northern Cape recorded just nine carjacking cases and Limpopo 163.
The number of drug-related crime cases increased in all provinces, and nationally by 17%, while Gauteng and Mpumalanga saw the biggest increase in cases in drug-related crimes at 58% and 31% respectively.
Over a third of all drug-related crimes were recorded in KwaZulu-Natal and Gauteng at 37 315 and 25 949 respectively.
Stock theft, which rose by 1.5% over 2010/11, saw increases in the Free State, KwaZulu-Natal, the North West (the biggest rise at nine percent), Limpopo and Mpumalanga, but declined in other provinces.
Two thirds of all stock theft cases were recorded in the KwaZulu-Natal, the Eastern Cape and the Free State.
