South Africa has seen a decrease in sexual offences crimes, National Police Commissioner General Riah Phiyega has announced.

Releasing the crime statistics for the 2013/14 financial year in Pretoria on Friday, Phiyega said sexual offences had decreased by 5.6 %.

“This shows good performance from the organisation,” she said.

Phiyega said all the provinces had seen a decrease in this crime, except for the Eastern Cape which was experiencing challenges, especially regarding crimes against old people. “We do believe that this is drug-related.”

The Eastern Cape has experienced an increase in sexual offences of 3.4%.

Phiyega also announced an overall decrease of 6.3% of all rape crimes in the country.

There was also an overall decrease of 4.9% in sexual assault crimes in the country with Limpopo experiencing a 4.8% decrease, KwaZulu-Natal declining by 3.7%, North West declining by 19.8% and the Free State decreased by 5.2%.

The Western Cape increased by 0.2%, Mpumalanga went up by 0.4% and the Northern Cape increased by 3.7% on reported sexual assault crimes.

She said the decrease of sexual crimes could be attributed to the ongoing awareness campaigns against sexual crimes and dedication from government to fight the scourge.

Minister of Police Nkosinathi Nhleko said the issue of sexual offences still needed to be tackled by all responsible citizens of South Africa.

“The decrease in sexual offences crime does not suggest that no incidents of rape were occurring, they still do exist.”

He added that contact crimes were prevalent in society and there were high levels of violence and aggression, which was a serious concern.

Deputy Police Minister Makhotso Sotyu, MECs responsible for Policing, SAPS Provincial Commissioners as well as various SAPS partners – from business, community policing forums and academia were also present at the release of the crime stats.

The crime stats cover the period from 1 April 2013 to 31 March 2014 and are made up of crimes that have been reported to the police.

Government releases these statistics once a year primarily to provide the public with progress in the fight against crime in the country, as well as a review of some of the current strategies in tackling crime and guiding operational plans for the SAPS.