The Institute for Security Studies (ISS) on Thursday said the persistent rise of violence in South Africa demonstrates that strengthening the rule of law is crucial but not sufficient for improving public safety.

Reacting to the latest crime statistics released by the South African Police Service (Saps) on Thursday, the think tank said levels of public violence in general are rising, and the recent outbreaks of public violence, mostly against foreign nationals, are another warning sign government cannot afford to ignore. 

To address the drivers of violence in South Africa, the ISS recommended “an increased investment in programmes proven to work including positive parenting programmes, after-school care programmes and anti-bullying programmes at schools. 

“Most violent behaviour is learnt in the home and in communities. Violence prevention programmes are key to reducing crimes that cannot be policed,” said Gareth Newham, head of the justice and violence prevention programme at the ISS.

The ISS once again called for more regular crime statistics to be made available to the public and civil society. 

“The Saps statistics released this week are almost six months out of date and do not reflect the current spate of high-profile violent crimes reported in the media. The data covers crimes committed in the financial year period from 30 April 2018 and 31 March 2019,” said the ISS.

South Africa's murder rate is up 1.4 percent with some 57 people being murdered a day.

Police Minister Bheki Cele, national police commissioner Khehla Sitole and his team presented the country's crime statistics to Parliament's police portfolio committee on Thursday morning.

The total numbers of murders recorded were 21 022. This is 686 more than the previous reporting year.

Most murders happened over weekends, which suggested that these were fueled by alcohol and drug abuse.

Cele said a very high number of murder victims were killed by people who they knew, hence these were not murders that may have been prevented by better policing.

"It will be very difficult for the police to police such cases where people know each other," Cele said.

Attempted murder grew 4.1 percent to 18 980, while assault with the intent to do grievous bodily harm was up 2.2 percent to 170 979.

Rape and sexual assault was also on the rise, reaching 52 420 cases reported. This marks a 4.6 percent increase compared to the previous year, and comes amid mounting pressure on President Cyril Ramaphosa to announce tougher measures to fight violence against women and children.