Crime stats paint grim picture
Commissioner must explain horrendous figures
CRIME in the country is spiralling out of control and the Western Cape is in the middle of the storm, with a 50% increase in contact crime. Especially worrying is a 74% increase in sex-related crimes.
The grim statistics have prompted the standing committee on community safety in the provincial legislature to invite the provincial police commissioner Thembisile Patekile to explain the horrendous figures.
Community Safety MEC Albert Fritz welcomed the release of the statistics, saying they have already started looking at the figures more closely and would be making detailed comments in the days to come.
The contact crime category included sub-categories of attempted murder and murder, sexual offences, assault with intent to inflict grievous bodily harm, common assault and robbery.
Committee chairperson Reagen Allen said they did not accept Police Minister Bheki Cele’s deflection of blame to budgetary cuts and a “crime holiday” as a result of Covid-19 lockdown regulations.
Allen said Western Cape residents deserve a far better explanation for failed crime intelligence and the lack of resources to keep them all safe – ANC internal politics within the national Cabinet can not be the excuse.
He said in spite of a broken national police service, they commended the officers in the province for their efforts that led to a 137% increase in crime detected as a result of police action.
ANC provincial spokesperson for community safety Mesuli Kama said they argued countless times that crime was not only a police responsibility, communities have a role to play, yet in the Western Cape they have a government that has been actively involved in destabilising community crime-fighting structures.
Kama said the environmental design was an important component in the fight against crime, yet the provincial government and municipalities were not held accountable for their part in creating a conducive environment for crime and gangs to thrive.
Provincial community policing forum (CPF) board chairperson Fransina Lukas said much more needed to be done by police and society if “we” want to win the war against crime.
Lukas said the police must step up and devise a turnaround strategy to decrease violent crime and murder.
She said they needed to intensify social crime-prevention programmes with CPF structures to sensitise communities to gender-based violence, responsible drinking programmes, men’s dialogues on GBV and femicide, mentorship programmes for boys and street committees – which must work closely with CPFs – to identify women and girls at risk.
SA Policing Union spokesperson Lesiba Thobakgale said a critical issue that needed to urgently be addressed was what the minister was doing about the ongoing internal battles in the top leadership of the police, both at national level and in the province.
Action Society spokesperson Ian Cameron said now, more than ever, it was time for citizens to be legally armed to protect themselves, because the police were clearly not fulfilling their responsibility towards South Africans.