How crime affects you
DROP: BUT OUR PEOPLE DO NOT FEEL IT, SAYS MBALULA
‘Behind the numbers are real feelings, real lives, real hurt, real harm, real losses, deaths...’
Despite a slight drop in the number of recorded sexual offences in the past year, South Africans are still under siege from crime – in their homes, in their businesses, where they hang out and on the roads.
Murders are at their highest level in 10 years, up 1.8% at 19 016. That means 52 people are murdered every day. Hijackings were up by 14.5%. to 16 717, or 46 a day, while aggravated robberies were up 6.3% to 140 956, or 386 a day.
And, a despairing Police Minister Fikile Mbalula said he was not impressed with the 1.8% drop in crime.
“I do not feel it, and our people do not feel it and they are correct. We have a drop in sexual violence, but we have more and more pictures of our women going missing. People must feel the drop in crime where they live. We have no time to waste time – we are still on the road towards safe communities.”
Speaking at the release of the 2016/2017 crime statistics in parliament yesterday, Mbalula said the figures were more than just mere numbers.
He cautioned that he was aware that crime involves high emotions and that the statistics should not be seen just as pure numbers. “Behind the numbers are real feelings, real lives, real hurt, real harm, real losses, deaths, feel- ings of unsafety – these statistics represent the memory of that gruesome rape or murder, the fearful home invasion and loss of property. These numbers have consistently said no community can claim they live in safety and feel safe in South Africa,” said Mbalula. Nearly 2.1 million serious crimes were recorded in the 2016/2017 financial year, of which 1 738 980 were community-re- ported serious crimes. Mbalula said: “Our people are losing their children to heinous crimes, drug gangs infighting for turf wars, our people have no-go areas due to criminality and violence that visits such areas. We must ask: have we accepted to live side by side with violent criminals in our cities where car jackings and home invasions are a common phenomenon?” He said although crime generally was down, “we have a big problem where violent crime is going up and there is no time to hide this. “Our police are working under tremendous situations but are not led properly by management.” Director of strategic partnerships and co-founder of Sonke Gender Justice Bafana Khumalo argued that the sexual offences statistics were inaccurate. “We can’t be simply proud that the numbers are going down because they don’t reflect reality.” South African Banking Risk Information Centre CEO Kalyani Pillay said police and cash-intransit companies are working closely together to put various measures in place to prevent further attacks, including investing significantly in the safety of their vehicles. Despite implementing these measures, she said, cash-in-transit armoured vehicles are still violently attacked by large groups of between 15 and 20 criminals, all heavily armed with automatic rifles.
These numbers have consistently said no community can claim they live in safety and feel safe in South Africa.
Fikile Mbalula Police minister