Durban’s grim crime stats, too many guns in KZN

WHILE Police Minister Nathi Nhleko welcomed successes by police during yesterday’s crime statistics release, Durban citizens remain imprisoned in their homes and living in fear.

While statistics from April 1 to December 31, 2016, presented to Parliament were positive on a national level, with murder decreasing by 0.1%, contact crimes by 1.9% and sexual offences by 6.35%, those for KwaZulu-Natal remained grim for violent crimes. These include a 25% increase in carjackings, a 6.3% increase for robbery with aggravating circumstances and a 1.5% increase in murder.

Yesterday, community policing forum leaders from Durban and outer suburbs were unimpressed with the crime figures, with Sydenham CPF communications officer Satish Dhuphelia saying residents never felt safe.

“The stats are interesting to read, but the reality on the ground is that people are scared in their homes, when at business and when they are driving. That means that almost all of the time, we have to be on the alert to avoid becoming a crime statistic, and that impacts on having a good life.

“People need a safe and secure environment and should not have to jail themselves in their homes and offices. The release of these stats does not alleviate the fear out there,” said Dhuphelia.

Kloof CPF chairman Morné Broodryk described the statistics as “a joke”.

“We know hijacking has gone through the roof. In Westville, robberies have doubled,” he said, adding that the way police categorised crime was confusing.

“When a guy breaks into a property with a firearm, breaks a window and sets off an alarm and then flees, I call it armed robbery. They call it attempted housebreaking.”

Westville CPF chairman Mike Myers said robberies had certainly increased but was reluctant to comment further, not having studied the statistics.

The secretary of the KwaMashu CPF, Londy Nzama, said co-operation between police and the CPF had made things better.

“But there is lots of robbery, rape and murder. The trouble often comes out of the taverns and also the container tuckshops and fruit and vegetable vendors who sell drugs,” said Nzama.

The University of KwaZuluNatal’s Dr Nirmala Gopal said the increase in the national statistics for robbery with aggravating circumstances, carjacking, robbery at residential premises and non-residential premises should be “of great concern for the country”.

“Evidence is increasingly showing that the socio-economic situation of many historically deprived communities is deteriorating and the probability of this being a push factor to criminal behaviour is high.

“Robbery could be a combination of issues of power and financial gain. South Africa continues to have legacies of unequal power relations and emasculation of men who find unorthodox ways to demonstrate their power. Robberies are a male-dominated crime.”

Gopal added that the category increases in KZN “warrant a specific type of intervention because it suggests that citizens are unsafe given the violent nature of these crimes”.

KZN crime monitor Mary de Haas said political killings ahead of the municipal elections last year would be included in the statistics, but the bigger issue was the number of guns in circulation.

“One has to ask, where are all the guns coming from? We have a very marginalised youth which is now being fuelled by drugs and guns. After the horrific killing of a family in uMlazi last week, which was preceded by an attack on people in a tavern, an uMlazi resident told me she hears (gun) shots frequently.

“And the killings at Glebelands hostel go on and on.”

Security companies have also indicated concern over violent crime.

Marshall Security spokesperson Kyle van Reenen said they had seen an increase in hijacking, with the most targeted vehicles being the Toyota Hilux, Toyota Fortuner and VW Polo.

Blue Security operations manager Brian Jackson highlighted the sudden surge in crime over December, with “a notable increase in serious and violent crimes compared with the same period in 2015”.

The national statistics showed there was an overall decline of 1.6% in crime, which translated to a decrease of 7 034 reported cases countrywide.

Brigadier Norman Sekhukhune, SAPS head of crime research and statistics, said contact crimes declined by 1.9%, contact-related crimes by 2.6%, property-related crimes by 0.2% and other serious crimes by 2.4%.

Attempted murder went down by 0.8%, assault with intent to cause grievous bodily harm decreased by 5.6%, while common assault decreased by 3.7%.

All the “trio” crimes – carjacking and robbery at residential and non-residential premises – recorded an 8.2% increase, Sekhukhune said.

Car hijacking showed an increase of 14.9%, robbery at residential premises 5.4% and robbery at non-residential premises 6.5%.

Sexual offences showed a decline in all provinces, with rape showing a 6.3% decrease, attempted sexual offences 18% and contact sexual offences 5.9%.

But Cookie Edwards, of the KZN Network on Violence Against Women, said the statistics could not be taken seriously, because they only reflected the cases reported.

“We know there is a stigma and fear with reporting sexual abuse, and so what about the women who haven’t reported their experiences?

Until we have all women reporting their cases, the statistics are not a true reflection,” she said.

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NOT only is there no room for complacency, as Police Minister Nkosinathi Nhleko acknowledged yesterday, there is little to celebrate in the crime statistics for April to December last year, released in Parliament yesterday.

It may not be the time to seem curmudgeonly, because small successes are evident in the fight against crime in this country.

However, not in the picture are the immense efforts, and costs, on the part of citizens to combat this scourge. Millions of rands are spent, and countless hours donated by small armies of volunteers in community policing forums and other anti-crime bodies, to head off criminals.

Particularly concerning is the hike in crimes in which villain and victim come face to face: car hijacking increased by 14.9%, robbery at residential premises 5.4% and robbery at non-residential premises 6.5%.

The minister said it was necessary to “intensify more of our efforts to ensure that we do better”. The report said there was an overall decline of 1.6% in crime. KwaZulu-Natal dropped by 3.3%.

Good men and women, in the police service and in the private security industry, go into the firing line every day. They face up to people who care nothing for the lives of their fellow humans, putting their own lives at risk, and often pay the ultimate price.

Citizens live in jail-like conditions, with wall-to-wall burglar guard systems, alarms, panic buttons, CCTV cameras, motion sensors – anything to keep the bad guys out. And still, vicious thugs find ways to shoot, stab or bludgeon the folk living in these conditions.

So while the top brass shows cautious optimism, and uses the decline in the number of murders (murder decreased by 0.1%) as a sign they are doing something right, they must realise citizens live in fear of becoming yet another statistic, and do even more.