South Africa's minister of police says the country's murder rate has fallen, but that the number of reported cases of rape remains unacceptably high.

Minister of police Nathi Mthethwa said in a report released Thursday murders in South Africa have been drastically reduced since the 1995-1996 fiscal year, when more than 26,000 people were killed in the period following the country's landmark elections that marked the end of the apartheid era.

The report said South Africa's murder rate dropped by 6.5% in the year ending in March 2011, to a total of 15,940.

However, Mthethwa says South Africa is not winning the war against rape, with the number of reported rape cases in South Africa increasing from 55,097 to 56,272. Mthethwa also admitted that rape is widely under-reported.

South Africa has one of the world's highest rates of rape, including an increasing trend of sexual violence against lesbians.

Mthethwa's report said eradicating violence against women and children remains one of the government's “key priorities.”