consumed and when there is a greater likelihood that people will frequent places of entertainment. Upswings in serious assault at the end of each year are also possibly related to the fact that more alcohol is likely to be consumed and more places of entertainment frequented during the holiday period around Christmas and New Year.

Recorded incidents of common assault — which generally include more minor incidents of assault where physical force rather than a weapon is used — have remained consistently stable across the reporting period. Year on year reported incidents of common assault are as follows: 1994: 193 764; 1995: 205 101; 1996: 205 333; 1997: 201 863; and 1998: 199 313. Clearly however, the nature of the crime, and the fact that it is not generally regarded as being very serious, relies heavily on the victim reporting the incident and the police recording it. Despite this, common assault is also characterised by seasonal fluctuations similar to serious assault, although they are less pronounced in the case of common assault.

Given that many incidents of rape are not reported to the police, determining the extent of the crime (and indeed a range of other sexual offences) and any trends associated with them, remains a hotly contested issue both in South Africa and elsewhere. Despite these observations, reported rape data demonstrates some interesting trends. There was a relatively large increase in the reporting of the crime during 1994 and 1995. From the beginning of 1996, the reporting of rape appears to have been stable (see Figure 3). Rape also shows similar seasonal fluctuations to the other inter-personal violent crimes outlined above.

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