In the cases of both murder and attempted murder reported during 1998, in all provinces the handgun was the type of firearm most commonly used to commit the offences. Taken together, KwaZulu-Natal and Gauteng were the locations of more than half of the attempted murder with firearm cases which occurred in South Africa in 1998. Firearms outnumbered other weapons by 3 to 1 (21967 7 451) in attempted murders overall: this may be an artefact of the way cases are classified by the SAPS.
Robbery and Attempted Robbery
Firearms were used in nearly half (49.8%) of all robberies committed in South Africa during 1998.
When weapons are used during robberies in South Africa, the weapons are more often than not firearms. In 1998, 84.8% of all serious robberies were committed with firearms, a ratio of 6:1 to other weapons. The number of robberies committed with firearms as a proportion of all serious robberies (i.e. robberies with aggravating circumstances) increased from 75.8% in 1996 to 84.8% in 1998. The table below depicts the use of firearms during serious robberies between 1994 and 1998:
| Table 10: Robbery with a Firearm as a percentage of all Serious Robbery 1994 - 1998 |
|||||
| 1994 | 1995 | 1996 | 1997 | 1998 | |
| Total
Serious Robbery |
84 900 | 80 071 | 67 249 | 69 691 | 88 319 |
| Robbery
with Firearm |
NO DATA | NO DATA | 51 004 | 54 230 | 74 845 |
| Robbery
with Firearm as a Percentage of all Robberies |
NO DATA | NO DATA | 75.8% | 77.8% | 84.8% |
| Source: SAPS CIAC | |||||
Seen as a rate, cases of Robbery where a firearm was used increased from 126.4 per 100 000 of the population in 1996 to 177.7 per 100 000 of the population in 1998.
In 1998, 50.5% of robberies with firearms took place in Gauteng, followed by KZN where 22.6% occurred. The graph below illustrates the provincial trends in relation to robberies with firearms by raw numbers for 1998:
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