Crime rates up under Phiyega, report says

Institute of Race Relations finds former SAPS head Cele more successful in tackling problem

SOUTH Africa needs another “stomach in, chest out” approach if it intends to combat the excessive crime rate in the country.

This was the popular phrase coined by former controversial national police commissioner Bheki Cele during his reign from July 2009 to October 2011.

According to a report the South African Institute of Race Relations (SAIRR) released yesterday, armed robberies declined sharply during his tenure.

The institute’s chief executive, Frans Cronjé, said the period coincided with the 2010 Fifa World Cup, which saw a massive contingent of police being deployed throughout the country.

The proactive approach could have attributed to the decrease in crime rates during that period.

As the report found that there was a direct relationship between police commissioners and crime rates, particularly armed robbery, it shed light on the current policing leadership.

Under police commissioner General Riah Phiyega’s leadership, armed robbery incidences have skyrocketed.

“Bheki Cele was most successful in reducing crime rates while Riah Phiyega has had a catastrophic tenure,” Cronjé said.

The SAIRR’s crime and security report was released before the official SAPS crime statistics, which are due to be released on Tuesday.

Cronjé said he was expecting more bad news. “I think there’s a hike, a spike in many things.”

He said he expected this worried the cabinet.

“They have a dud police commissioner who’s not delivering.”

Cronjé said that while the incidence of crime had improved under Cele, even that wasn’t enough and South Africa hadn’t become the country it should have been.

He believed a new police commissioner should come from the ranks of the police, “if there is such a person left in the police, certainly”, and that the discipline within the service, which had been promoted by Cele, should be brought back.

The SAIRR painted a bleak yet optimistic picture regarding safety and security.

It found that the rates for most categories of crime, including murder, rape and serious assault, have reduced over the past 20 years, meaning that South Africa is essentially a safer place to live in than previously.

The rates are the incidence of crime per 100 000 people, not the raw numbers of cases.

But Cronjé said the statistics should be interpreted with caution.

“The decline in stock theft, for instance, might reflect collapsed farmer confidence in the police. Conversely, drug-related crime increases might reflect more effective policing,” he said.

However, the number of trio crimes have shot up in the past decade. These are the feared, usually violent, crimes of hijacking, house robberies and business robberies.

The report also highlighted the effect that technology has had on crime in the last 20 years.

This is particularly the case with regard to the decline in car theft, from about 200 000 in 1994 to fewer than 150 000 last year.

Cronjé said the installation of high-technology security and tracking systems that were fitted into vehicles could have resulted in the decline.

He added, however, that the decline in one type of robbery often resulted in the increase of another type.

This was evident in the spike in the number of residential burglaries, which saw a rise from about 220 000 in 1994 to about 260 000 last year.

The report also found a correlation between crime and location.

The Eastern Cape and Western Cape recorded the highest murder rates and Limpopo recorded the lowest. Gauteng ranked the fourth safest province in the country.

However, using murder as a baseline, Cronjé said South Africa performed badly in comparison to emerging and developed economies.