Durban - Sixty-seven murders a day, 153 rapes, 364 violent robberies, 60 car jackings and 36 kidnappings. That’s the picture of violent crime in the country that Police Minister Bheki Cele presented to the parliamentary portfolio committee yesterday as he released the SAPS latest crime stats for January to March this year.
In a country plagued by gender-based violence, murders of women rose by 17.5% and of children by 37.2%; 898 women and 306 children were killed.
So alarming were the increases in the most violent crime categories that opposition parties demanded Cele’s immediate axing, with the DA calling the period a 90-day bloodbath.
There were 6 083 murders in the three-month period, up by 22.2%. This brought the murder ratio per 100 000 to 10, for the first time. Attempted murder was also up by 24.8% with 5 717 cases.
The number of sexual offences increased by13.7%, to 13 799 cases, while rape cases increased by 1 300 cases, or 13.7%, to 10 818.
Assault with grievous bodily harm rose by 18.1% to 42 992 cases, while robbery with aggravating circumstances rose by 6.5%, with 32 783 cases. Carjacking was up by 19.7%, with 5 402 cases, while truck hijacking increased by 31.4% with 465 cases and cash-in-transit heists were up by 26.2%, with 53 cases.
The only two categories of property crime, which showed minuscule improvements, were robbery of residential and non-residential property, down 0.4 and 3.5%, respectively. Drug-related crime saw a welcome decrease of 17.7%, while driving under the influence of alcohol reduced by 39.7%, with 11 992 arrests.
The murder stats, once again, show KZN topping the provincial list with 1 576 murders, up by 23%. The province ‒ with 20% of the country’s population ‒ accounts for more than a quarter of its murders. Gauteng shocked all with its figure jumping 45.2%, with 1 403 killings. The Eastern Cape moved into third place.
In terms of murders per 100 000, the Eastern Cape is the most dangerous place to live with 15.7 killings, followed by the Western Cape with 14.1, KZN with 13.6 and Gauteng recorded 8.8.
The highest number of murders was recorded in uMlazi (103), Inanda (75) and Plessislaer (67). There were 40 at Mariannhill. KZN also featured the worst among multiple murders, with 57 cases where there were two victims and one which included eight victims: a drug-related killing in which seven people were found dead in a rondavel in Richmond, while one later died in hospital.
In the reporting period, 24 police officers were killed in the country, KZN accounting for a third of them.
Alcohol played a role in South Africa’s murder rate, with 156 murders taking place on licensed properties, whether pubs, nightclubs, shebeens or taverns. There were 198 attempted murders, 59 rapes, and 1 944 cases of GBH assault taking place in liquor outlets.
KZN saw the second highest number of rapes, with 2 017 cases, up by 17.1%, behind Gauteng, with 2 267 cases, a 11.6% increase. There was also a 26.2% rise in cases of sexual assault.
In terms of rape per 100 000, the Eastern Cape fares worst, with 27.6, followed by the Free State with 24.4 and Northern Cape with 20.4. KZN (17.4) is sixth, while Gauteng is at the bottom (14.2).
Kidnapping showed a massive spike, with the bulk of cases coming from KZN and Gauteng. The latter recorded 1 563 cases or a 198% increase, while KZN notched up 703, a 99.7% increase.
GBH assault saw a 14.3% increase in the province, with 6 798 cases compared with Gauteng’s 16.4% increase and 9 687 cases. For robbery with aggravating circumstances, KZN saw a 6.2% increase, with 6 018 cases, behind Gauteng, with a 10.6% increase and 12 715 cases. Carjacking sees KZN second on the provincial table, up by 14.2%, with 876 cases, but substantially behind Gauteng’s 2 936, a 26.1% rise.
The good news is that robbery at non-residential premises in KZN decreased by 9.2%, yet robbery at residential premises bucked the national trend, rising by 1.8%. The province saw 10 cash-in-transit heists and no bank robberies.
KZN saw a 37% increase in arson cases, with 174 and a 14.9% increase in cases of malicious damage to property. Car theft reduced by a substantial 11.2%, with 1 477 cases. However, Durban Central and Berea still registered in the country’s top ten worst affected precincts.
The province also saw a 7.2% increase in stock theft, overtaking the Eastern Cape.
Drug-related crime saw a 15.3% increase, with 5 847 cases, substantially behind the Western Cape (42 309) and Gauteng (9 414 ), while driving under the influence of alcohol saw a 37.5% increase, with 1 298 cases, behind Gauteng (5 406) and the Western Cape (1 485).
For the first time, the SAPS included figures for protests, with KZN recording 400 as peaceful and 92 as unrest, behind Gauteng, with 435 peaceful and 131 as unrest.
DA spokesperson for policing Andrew Whitfield MP called for Cele’s axing. “Time after time, President Ramaphosa has promised to reduce violent crimes, but these crime stats betray that promise, with almost every single category of crime increasing significantly year-on-year since 2018. It is now abundantly clear that Minister Cele is not fit to serve in his position. This is a slap in the face to the law abiding citizens of South Africa and especially to the 6 083 people who unnecessarily lost their lives due to his utter incompetence,” he said.
Action SA president Herman Mashaba said the failures of the ANC government to maintain the rule of law had reached a new low. “It is clear that our country has been on auto-pilot since Cyril Ramaphosa became president and retained failed ministers like Bheki Cele.”
Action SA offered concrete suggestions to improve matters:
- Increasing and restructuring police to have more officers on the ground.
- Adopting innovative technological solutions, including integrated fingerprint and DNA systems as well as empowering CCTV camera networks.
- Increasing capacity of detective units with specialised fields, equipment and resources.
- Expanding prosecutorial capacity.
In the portfolio committee itself, MPs were shocked at the extent of the crime surge with chairperson, Tina Joemat-Pettersson, demanding that station commanders from the top five police stations must appear before MPs to explain the high crime rate in their areas.
EFF MP Henry Shembeni said he was disturbed by the increase in the killing of women and children.
“But it seems as if we are failing and the criminals are winning. We are not winning the fight anymore. The criminals are around us,” he said. - additional reporting Siyabonga Mkhwanazi
The Independent on Saturday