The Perfect Murder is alive and well in SA
MANY YEARS ago, one of the favourite topics at school and university debating societies was: “Is there such a thing as the perfect murder?” Why it was relevant was the belief that all murders were detected and that murderers were punished. The rarity would be someone who committed a murder and got away with it: the perfect murder.
Today, in South Africa, the debate would be laughable. According to the South African Human Rights Commission (SAHRC), the number of murders places this country 4th out of 219 countries in the world. The Institute of Race Relations (IRR) says that 485 187 murders have been committed in the country since 1994.
Where are all the murderers? The Annual Report of Correctional Services discloses that there are 117 255 sentenced offenders (for all categories of crime) in our prisons, with a further 43 789 unsentenced prisoners.
The latest crime statistics released by Police Minister Bheki Cele reveal that, in 2017/2018, 20 336 murders were recorded; that is 57 a day. But the annual report of the SAPS for 2016/2017 tells us that 16 102 arrests for murder took place. That means that more than 4 000 murderers were not even arrested, let alone tried.
Meanwhile, the reports of the Director of the National Prosecuting Authority (NPA) and the SAPS show only small numbers of convictions were obtained. The detection rate was 23.92%. Of that, 81.83% had trial-ready dockets and of that only 76.35% resulted in convictions. About 3 000 convictions out of 20 000 murders.
Apart from murders, our justice system is failing many other victims. The total of sexual assaults reported for this year is 50 108.
The number of arrests was 32 100. Graeme Hosken wrote an interesting article on October 30, 2017 in The Sowetan. It covered a report, “Rape Justice in South Africa”, conducted by the Medical Research Council (MRC) on behalf of the NPA. The number of convictions was 8.1%, with Gauteng accepting 26% of cases for prosecution but having only 6.5% of cases concluded with a guilty verdict.
Remember that only a fraction of the reported rapes gets to court; tens of thousands of rapists get away with their crimes each year.
There is really no good reason to believe the record of arrest and conviction for all other crimes (there were 1 109 589 arrests for serious crime last year) is any better than this shocking exposé of the rape and murder statistics.
Cele says the SAPS have “dropped the ball”. Clearly, there is something rotten in the SAPS. Successive national commissioners have been hopeless failures. This includes Cele, who was fired after public protector Thuli Madonsela in 2011 found him guilty of improper conduct and maladministration when the police entered into a R500 million lease for the Sanlam Middestad Building in Pretoria. Madonsela found the lease between the department and property tycoon Roux Shabangu’s Roux Property Fund to be invalid and she requested the National Treasury should review the lease to see what steps could be taken to terminate it.
Cele was brought back by President Cyril Ramaphosa as part of the “New Dawn”. Even though tainted by his past, at least he is a serious minister and a political heavyweight.
There is now a respected professional as national commissioner, Lieutenant Khehla Sitole, and he, together with Cele, will be watched intently to see if this year’s promises lead to better policing.
It is the government’s prime duty to ensure the safety of its citizens and, up to now, this government has failed in that task.