The latest crime statistics have revealed that KwaZulu-Natal is the country’s most deadly province.

Two of the province’s police stations recorded the highest number of murders between April and June this year. KwaZulu-Natal is followed by the Western Cape and Gauteng.

But it’s the Eastern Cape that has recorded the highest number of murders, comparable to the size of its population.

Six-hundred-and-sixty-four more people were murdered in the first quarter of this new financial year, than during the same period last year.

Of the 6,424 people killed, 1,623 of them died in KwaZulu-Natal. Nine of its police stations also rank among the top 30, for the high rate of murders reported.

Ten of the police stations are in the Western Cape and eight are in Gauteng.

Head of police statistics major-general Norman Sekhukhune said: “The number one and two are Umlazi and Plessislaer, three is Mthatha station in the Eastern Cape, four is Inanda in KwaZulu-Natal, and five is Delft in the Western Cape”.

After KwaZulu-Natal, the second highest number of murders – 1,490 – were recorded in Gauteng, followed by 1,200 in the Eastern Cape.

Limpopo, Mpumalanga and the Northern Cape are the only provinces to report reductions in the murder rate.

Meanwhile, the Police and Prisons Civil Rights Union (Popcru) said South African Police Service bosses should be using crime statistics as a measure of the problems faced by society.

The union said the first quarter crime stats do not bode well for South Africans. Poprcu said the police can’t do their jobs, unless they’re provided with the necessary resources.

The organisation is now calling for a crime summit to be established, to address the many challenges faced by police.

Poprcu spokesperson Richard Mamabolo said: “It is always vital that when reflecting on the rising crime stats, we not only blame it on police, but take a broad approach that considers the broader socio-economic conditions”.