The increased murder rate was a concern, the office of the African National Congress (ANC) chief whip said on Friday.

The party applauded the police for a decrease in other crimes such as car theft, truck hijacking and stock theft.

“We are, however, gravely concerned by increases in certain crime types, such as murder, burglary at residential and non-residential properties and carjacking. These are categories of crimes that previous surveys have demonstrated ordinary South Africans fear the most. Such crimes involve grievous bodily harm, loss of life and makes our people to live in fear,” the chief whip said.

“We agree with the Minister of Police [Nathi Nhleko] that while police are central to the alleviation of acts of criminality in society, such crimes point to social ills and thus require interventions beyond the police.”

The strengthening of partnerships with communities, reinforcing crime intelligence and constant police visibility was key to the fighting crime.

“The role of communities in crime-fighting cannot be overemphasised, as hijacked vehicles and items stolen through burglary have an increasing market within our communities. We must never allow a tiny minority in our society to hold the entire nation to ransom.”

Crime statistics released by the police ministry on Friday showed that the murder rate increased by 4.9%, with more than 50 people a day murdered in South Africa between April 1 2015 and March 31 this year. Attempted murders was up by 3.4%, while assault with the intent to do grievous bodily hard was up slightly by 0.2%.

Norman Sekhukhune, South African Police Service head of crime research and statistics, said the Northern Cape was the only province that had a drop in murder rate.

The so-called trio crimes (house robberies, business robberies and carjackings) were up 0.2%. House robberies increased by 2.7%, with the Western Cape contributing significantly to this figure with a 19.3% rise in this crime in the province. Business robberies rose by 2.8% compared to the 2014/15 stats, while car hijackings increased by 14.3%, with only the Free State province having experienced a decrease of 4.4%.