Crime at a 10-year low

Police request for the army’s help locally still sitting with the president

CRIME in South Africa is at a 10-year low, but in the Western Cape there has been a marked increase in violent offences, including murder.

This comes as no surprise though, according to ANC Western Cape secretary Faiez Jacobs, who accused the city and province of neglecting poorer suburbs, and in turn depriving them of opportunities to excel financially.

Yesterday, Police Minister Fikile Mbalula released crime statistics for April 1, 2016 to March 31 this year, which showed a 1.8% decrease in serious crimes nationally.

In the Western Cape there’s been a 3.5% decrease in crime, but violent crimes like murder, sexual assault, and robbery with aggravating circumstances remain on the increase.

Crimes that spiked in the province include:

Murder, up by 2.7%, compared to the national increase of 1.8%;

Sexual assault increased by 6%, compared to a national increase of 0.9%;

Carjacking increased by 8%; Truck hijacking increased by 26.1%; and Cash-in-transit robberies increased by 45.8%.

Murders reported in the Western Cape account for 21.1% of all murders in the country with 10 policing areas in the 20 precincts with the worst murder statistics.

These include Nyanga, Delft, Khayelitsha and Kraaifontein.

Jacobs said there seemed to be little effort by the province in regulating informal traders, especially those trading in alcohol, as many crimes were committed in and for the trade.

‘‘The City and province failed to provide enough resources to communities.

‘‘They should stop putting the blame on national government,” Jacobs said.

Mayor Patricia de Lille’s spokesperson Zara Nicholson hit back, saying the fact remained that the police, under the national government, were responsible for fighting crime and ensuring that the criminal justice system worked efficiently.

“Cape Town has the lowest unemployment rate in the country with more investors choosing to open their operations here each day, providing much-needed jobs because of the City’s track record of service delivery, clean governance and a zero-tolerance for corruption in the administration.

‘‘The ANC should be aware of the many positive community development projects which the City is delivering on as they are members of the various portfolio committees in council who have oversight over these projects,” said Nicholson.

Community Safety MEC Dan Plato said they had invested a large sum in resources and were doing their best.

“The fact is that violent crime is highest in areas where the police are most underresourced,’’ he said.

‘‘National government has operational control over SAPS and we will continue to advocate for sufficient policing resources, including specialised units to target gangs, guns and drugs.

“We also reiterate our call for the SANDF to be used as force-multipliers in gangaffected communities – this is a short-term measure to stabilise the gang violence situation.”

Mbalula said a request to deploy the army to boost the police in the fight against gangsterism in the Western Cape was still with the president.

PARLIAMENT: South Africa’s murder tally is up 1.8%, according to the country’s crime stats for 2016/17.

Police Minister Fikile Mbalula led the delegation of senior SA Police Service personnel during a presentation on the stats to Parliament’s portfolio committee on police. He said contact crimes were up by 2.4%. Presenting the figures, Major-General Norman Sekhukhune, head of police crime research and statistics, said attempted murder was up 0.4% and aggravated robbery increased by 6.4%. Assault with the intent to do grievous bodily harm was up 6.7% , while common assault was up 5.2%. Sexual offences were down 4.3%, while common robbery was down 1.3%. Mbalula said: “We have ministers in this Parliament and ordinary citizens who have buried their children due to violent crime… we have to ask ourselves if we have accepted to live side by side with criminals … Our answer must be an emphatic no.”

Meanwhile, Gauteng, South Africa’s most heavily populated province, recorded 4 101 murders in the 2016/17 financial year, MPs heard yesterday.

Sekhukhune said the number of murders in Gauteng were up 6.7%. KwaZulu-Natal police responded to 4 014 murders (up 2.2%), followed by the Eastern Cape with 3 628 murders (down 0.6%).

The Western Cape recorded the fourth largest number of murders at 3 311 (up 2.7%), followed by Mpumalanga with 954 murders (up 11.1%) and the Free state with 950 murders (down 4.3%).

There were 901 murders in the North West and 813 in Limpopo. The Northern Cape, South Africa’s largest province but with the smallest population, recorded the least murders at 344 (down 7.5%).

While contact crimes had seen a 2.4% decrease overall in the 2016/17 financial year, Mbalula told MPs he was concerned that murder and aggravated robbery continued to show an upward trend.

Other contact crimes are down, including attempted murder (down 0.4%). The number of sexual offences reported to police was also down by 4.3%. Assault with the intent to do grievous bodily harm was down 6.7% while common assault saw a 5.2% decrease. Common robbery was down 1.3%.

Despite some of the decreases, Mbalula indicated it was not cause for celebration.

“Behind the numbers are real feelings, real lives, real hurt, real harm, real losses,” he said.

He indicated the latest crime statistics would be vital to ensure police identify “crime patterns”.

“We simply cannot fight against an enemy we do not understand,” he said.

Further, hijackings, home robberies and business robberies continues to see a steady rise.

The three crimes, known by police as “trio crimes”, have seen bigger rises in the 2016/17 financial year than previous years.

Hijackings were up 14.5%, while home robberies were up 7.3% (compared to an increase of 2.7% in 2015/16) and business robberies were up 5% .

Gauteng saw a 16.9% increase in hijackings with 8 610 cases reported, followed by KwaZulu-Natal with 3 029 cases (up 21.5 %), and the Western Cape with 2 201 (up 8.3%).

The number of home robberies were also most prominent in Gauteng with 8 731 cases (up 10.6%) reported, followed by KwaZulu-Natal 4 255 (up 4.2%), and the Western Cape with 2560 (down 0.5%).

There were 7187 (up 4%) business robberies in Gauteng in 2016/17, followed by KwaZulu-Natal with 2 951 (up 4.5%), and the Eastern Cape with 2 369 cases (up 6.8%).

“Behind the numbers are real feelings, real lives, real harm, real loss’’