The annual national crime statistics, released by the South African Police Service (SAPS) top management in Parliament yesterday, show that there were less crimes reported by the community to the police, and less crimes detected by the police during the 2018/19 reporting period. This is in stark contrast to communities’ sense of safety and the crime realities of too many communities in the province.
The fewer crimes detected as a result of police action in the Western Cape include:
- 8% less counts of illegal possession of firearm and ammunition, from 3422 to 3149;
- 30.6% less counts of drug related crimes, from 117 157 to 81 344.
MPP Reagen Allen says, “With community-reported crime down 1.7% (from 339 205 in 2018/19 to 345 211 in 2017/18), and crime detected as result of police action down a staggering 27.2% (from 133 521 counts in 2017/18 to just 97 223 counts in 2018/19), it is clear that the SAPS appears to be unable to stem the tide on crime due to under resourcing pressures in the Western Cape and I fear that communities are increasingly not reporting crime due to growing unhappiness with the police or distrust in the police’s abilities to assist.”
“More worrying, is that this is not a new occurrence but that community-reported crimes have been decreasing over the last 5 years”, MPP Allen added.
Though there seems to be a slight increase in sexual offences detected as a result of police action, 1.8%, the actual counts remain far too low at 169 counts for the entire province compared to 7 043 counts of sexual offences reported by communities.
“All the crime statistics released today require further contextualisation. Internationally, crime data tends to be presented in ratios, usually per 100,000 of the population, which provides greater context regarding safety. This is something the SAPS has done in the past but failed to do in today’s presentation or refer to it in the raw data crime statistic spreadsheets released online”, MPP Allen notes.
The Western Cape’s crime problem at first look seems largely unchanged:
- 83.75% of all gang-related murders in the country (938 of 1120) occur in the Western Cape, in 2017/18 the figure was 83% (808 of 973).
- 34.96% of all drug-related crimes in South Africa (81 344 of 232 657) occur in our province, in 2017/18 the figure was 36.2% (117 157 of 323 547).
The severity of situation, however, should not be overlooked:
- 6.6% increase in Murder in the province, from 3 729 in 2017/18 to 3 974 in 2018/19;
- Highest count of Murder for the last 10 years, up from 2271 in 2009/10 to 3 974 in 2018/19;
- More than a third of the top 30 Stations (11) with the highest murder count are found in the Western Cape.
- 4.4% increase in Attempted Murder.
- 14 of the top 30 stations for counts of attempted murder are found in our province.
- 21 of the 30 Top Stations for counts of to drug-related crimes are found in the Western Cape.
- Second highest counts of crimes against women 36 726 behind Gauteng at 45 238;
- Highest counts for crimes against children at 9366.
“Too many residents of the Western Cape continue to be exposed to unacceptably high levels of crime, especially crime which can be characterised as being violent and interpersonal in nature.” MPP Allen adds.
Under-resourcing, is a complete injustice to the people living in that area. We have long fought for equitable police resourcing for the Western Cape and it has been reported to the Public Service Commission which has made recommendations to the SAPS to address these challenges.
Of the 21 022 murders in South Africa, the SAPS today shared that the highest incidents of Murder occur on Saturdays and Sundays between 18:00 the Saturday evening and 09:00 on Sunday mornings, as well as that most Murders occur at the hands of guns (7156), knives (4720) and sharp objects (1552).
The biggest causative factors of Murder in the Western Cape are gang-related (938), arguments/misunderstanding (358), Domestic Violence (229) and armed robbery (223). MPP Allen further expressed his concerns, “Revenge killings (114) and mob justice/vigilantism (151) as causative factors for Murder are extremely worrying and should be unpacked further, especially in the broader context of organised crime and the recent flare-up of xenophobic sentiments and violence”.
MPP Allen concludes, “The police’s insights shared today show that the SAPS has all the statistics to inform intelligence-lead policing strategies. The crime statistics for the Western Cape, however, allude to the fact that this is not happening. I look forward to the release of the SAPS’ Annual Report for the same reporting period for a better understanding of the police’s strategies and operations. I will request the Standing Committee on Community Safety to invite the provincial police management to present the provincial crime statistics to the Provincial Parliament for interrogation and understanding.”
“I will also use the Standing Committee meeting to call for the police to release the crime statistics on a regular basis in order for improved safety responses from the entire safety fraternity, in partnership with the police.”
