Ups and downs of crime stats

Sex crimes, murder show biggest surge

CONTACT sexual offences, murder, arson, carjacking, and commercial crimes in the Western Cape have shown the biggest increases in reported cases over the past year.

This while common assault, malicious damage to property, burglary at residential premises, theft, and drugrelated crimes made the biggest contributions to the overall reported crime figures in the province.

These were among the 2018/2019 crime statistics released by police top brass yesterday, including Police Minister Bheki Cele, national police commissioner Khehla Sitole, and police statistics chief Norman Sekhukhune.

The statistics covered 21 crime categories, and included data from all 1154 police stations across the country, as well as satellite stations and ports of entry.

Nyanga once again remains South Africa’s murder capital, with five other police stations, namely Delft, Khayelitsha, Philippi East, Harare, and Gugulethu, among the top 10 with the highest murder rates.

Nyanga police station recorded 289 murders, down 6.2% from the previous year.

This as South Africa’s murder rate is up 1.4%, at 21 022 murders over the past financial year.

The Delft police precinct recorded the highest number of reported rape cases in the province, at 224 during the 2018/2019 financial year.

Nyanga recorded the second highest number of reported rape cases in the province, at 217 reports.

Provincially, 4 744 rapes were reported in the previous financial year, and 4649 were reported this past year.

Sekhukhune announced that children were charged in 736 of 21 022 murder cases nationally in the past financial year.

Of those, 170 were minors from the Western Cape.

Sekhukhune said it was not confirmed whether the cases were gang-related, but the possibility was not ruled out.

The crime statistics also showed a slight decrease in the number of women killed, but a spike in the number of children murdered. Nationally, the number of women killed in 2018/2019 stood at 2771, down 2.9%.

The statistics showed that nationally there had been 1 548 more reported rape cases than in 2017/2018.

In 2017/2018, 985 children were murdered, while in 2018/2019, 1 014 children were killed.

The stats show that the Western Cape accounts for 21 of the 30 police stations facing counts of drug-related crimes.

Cele said the police were currently in talks with organisations including Corruption Watch and the Social Justice Coalition on how to reduce crime.

He was also considering releasing crime stats more frequently and not just annually, as this would give people a more detailed picture, he said.

The current crime stats account for reported crimes from April last year until March this year.

They therefore do not include a recent spate of violent incidents and gender-based violence, nor the impact the deployment of the army might have had. Cele said the Family Violence, Child Protection and Sexual Offences (FCS) unit had 185 units to deal with gender-based violence. Over the past year it recorded 658 life sentences.

“Now plans to increase the number of FCS’ countrywide and recruit and train more women officers to work in them are under way.

“To further fight the scourge of violence against women and children we have heeded President Cyril Ramphosa’s call to reopen investigations into all cold-cases relating to gender-based violence in the country,” Cele said.

ALARMING, not the greatest results and a country at war with itself was how some political parties described the 2018-19 crime statistics released yesterday.

The DA’s Andrew Whitfield said the statistics for 2018/2019 was a serious cause for alarm as it painted a bleak picture of chaos in the country’s front-line law enforcement agency.

“Of particular concern is the murder rate which is the highest it has been in 10 years, with an average of 57.5 people being murdered a day in South Africa, and a murder rate which has increased by 3.4%,” Whitfield said.

He also said the police were losing the battle against gender-based violence as sexual offences increased by 4.6% with the sub-category of sexual assault increasing by 9.6%.

“These crime statistics are an indictment on the SAPS and clearly indicates that the police and ANC government are unable to keep our communities safe.

“These blood-chilling statistics and the victims behind the numbers pour cold water on President Cyril Ramaphosa’s promise to halve violent crime in the next 10 years,” Whitfield said.

The Freedom Front Plus’ Pieter Groenewald said the statistics served as proof the country was becoming more violent and increasingly unsafe for its citizens.

“For the first time ever, all seven categories of contact offences committed against a person showed an increase.

“Murder increased for the seventh consecutive year, this time with 3,4%,” Groenewald said.

He, however, said his party doubted the accuracy of the farm murder figures conveyed in the statistics.

“The statistics show that 47 murders were committed in 41 incidents. However, the agricultural unions’ statistics show a much higher murder rate,” he said.

The portfolio on police called for a review into the way policing was done to stop the rising crime statistics.

Chairperson Tina JoematPettersson said it was unacceptable that there was an increase in crime every year and no strident and cutting-edge strategies in place to fight crime.

“The committee is of the view that the trajectory of crime cannot continue at the current rate and requires a shift in the way we view policing, from being responsive to being more preventive.

“This can be achieved through the intensification of collaboration with communities,” JoematPettersson said.

She said communities should work closely with the police and play an active role in the fight against crime.

Joemat-Pettersson said there was a need to deal with the socioeconomic factors that lead to crime.

IFP spokesperson on police Zandile Majozi said the SANDF assisting the police in doing its work was not a good enough or a sustainable solution in fighting crime.

“We have seen far too many deployments of the SANDF aiding SAPS in doing its work.”

“It is imperative that a culture of discipline be inculcated in our police and at our police stations.

“Confidence in our men and women in blue serving on the front line must be restored, but this can only be achieved if bad elements are rooted out of the SAPS.

“We must have a police that is non-aligned, that takes policing decisions on policing grounds; that operates with improved intelligence capabilities and that protects people’s rights under the Constitution.

“We simply need a police that would do its job,” said Majozi.

Majozi rejected the notion that the increase in violence and crime can be ascribed to alcohol and drug abuse on weekends.