National crime rate worsens

• Safer Western Cape not able to offset rise in North West, Free State

SA’s national crime rate worsened due to sharp increases in the North West and Free State, Stats SA reported on Thursday. Stats SA segments its annual Victims of Crime report into two broad categories: households and individuals.

SA’s national crime rate worsened due to sharp increases in the North West and Free State, Stats SA reported on Thursday.

Stats SA segments its annual Victims of Crime report into two broad categories: households and individuals.

The percentage of SA households that suffered burglaries, robberies and other crimes in this category rose to 7.5% in the 2018 report from 7.2% in 2017.

The percentage of individuals who were victims of crime worsened to 3.7% from 3.5% the previous year.

A breakdown of crime by province showed the Western Cape managed to reduce crimes against individuals by 24.4% and against households by 1.7%.

But the national average saw crimes classified as against households increase 5.3% and against individuals by 5%, led by what appears to be crime sprees in the North West, followed by the Free State and Gauteng.

“Police visibility declined between 2017 and 2018,” the report said.

“It is estimated that the proportion of South Africans who never saw a police officer in uniform during the past 12 months increased by 6%.

“Police visibility was least in the Eastern Cape, where the percentage of people who never saw a police officer in uniform during the past 12 months is estimated to be 38%.”

Stats SA also found that the percentage of South Africans who were satisfied with police response declined to 54.2% from 57.3% previously.

Of the types of crime Stats SA classifies under households, more than half are burglaries, which are differentiated from robberies in that they do not involve family members being threatened or attacked.

“An estimated 832,122 incidences of housebreaking occurred, which is a 7% increase compared to the previous year. An estimated 156,089 incidences of home robbery occurred, constituting an increase of 3% from last year,” the report said.

Murder falls in the households crimes category. “It is estimated that 16,809 incidences of murder occurred in 2018, which is an increase of about 4% from the previous year.”

According to Stats SA, robbery away from home decreased 5%, sexual offences were down 61%, but assault increased by 12% from the previous year.