KZN murders: convictions lag

THE increase in KwaZuluNatal’s murder statistics has been blamed on ineffective policing and the lack of prosecutorial convictions – a situation that has also led to one crime expert challenging police to reveal conviction statistics.

KZN violence monitor and analyst Mary de Haas said policing in the province was ineffective, which included management, crime intelligence and detectives.

De Haas said the management of policing in the province, the management of some stations and units were all problematic.

“If crime intelligence was doing its job properly you wouldn’t get away with so many hitmen running around with guns shooting people,” De Haas said.

She added that there was always a fuss about the crime statistics while nothing much had changed, with murders and hijackings escalating.

The statistics revealed that murder had increased by 2.2% in KZN – from 3 929 in 2015/16 to 4 014 in 2016/17 – meaning 85 more people had been murdered in 2016/17.

“What we actually need are statistics about crime convictions and that’s what we’re not getting. Thuli Madonsela (former public protector) said the same thing at a meeting about Glebelands (hostel),” De Haas pointed out.

She said convictions for serious crimes were “way too low”.

“In the political killings how many convictions do you see? There are some cases in court, but not that many… that’s the big problem.”

De Haas said the lack of convictions by the detective services and crime intelligence meant that people got away with murder and they kept on doing it.

The spate of political killings in the province had led to the formation of the Political Violence Task Team and the Moerane Commission of Inquiry, which was established to investigate the murders.

“Even if they make findings, if they were to do that and I have no idea whether they will, what’s going to be done? Is there going to be a will on the part of the government to do something about policing?” De Haas asked.

She also questioned whether the government was

People are getting away with murder and nothing is being done about it

only going to deal with issues plaguing policing if the Moerane Commission of Inquiry said something about it.

“We want to see the report of the Moerane Commission and then, importantly, we want to see if the government is going to do anything about it,” De Haas said.