Crime Stats: National government’s failings need to be addressed to keep South African’s safe

The DA is deeply, deeply concerned for all South Africans who today face another year of increased levels of crime. This comes after the 2014/2015 crime stats released today that violent crimes are on the increase.  

It has been revealed today that the murder rate has gone up for the third consecutive year of National Police Commissioner (NPC), Riah Phiyega’s tenure at the helm our South African Police Service (SAPS). A year ago there were 17 068 murders which worked out to 47 murders a day. The increase revealed today means that the murder rate is up to 17 805 which means 49 South Africans are murdered in this country each and every day. This number of deaths is what one would expect from a country at war. This is catastrophic.

We note with cautious optimism the Minister’s declaration that these Stats have been produced in consultation with StatsSA which is a welcomed acknowledgement for the need for these stats to be verified. The DA will, however, impress upon the Minister and the Commissioner that in order for these numbers to have optimal credibility and legitimacy; that they be audited by an independent body with no ties to the government. This will go a long way to restoring the public’s confidence in these stats.

From today’s presentation by the Minister of Police, Nathi Nhleko, and NPC Phiyega, we now have confirmation of what many South Africans have felt in their everyday lives:  Crime is getting worse. The crime rate increased in the following categories:

- Murder is up by 4.6%;

- Attempted murder is up by 3.2%;

- Aggravated robbery is up by 8.5%;

- Car hijackings is up by 14.2%; 

- Truck hijackings is up by almost 30%

Additionally drug-related crime is up by 2.4% since last year and an astronomical 182% since 2004/2005, most likely because of the disastrous Selebi-era disbandment of specialised crime units such as the Narcotics Bureau in 2003. 

Moreover, again this year there is no reporting of rural murders that have been completely neglected by the national government. Recent stats taken from other entities place the body count of people killed in rural areas at 67 with 278 attacks as at 2014 and 9 deaths and 23 attacks at February 2015 alone. We have reason to believe that this number will increase substantially by the end of the reporting cycle yet it is not reflected anywhere in the government’s stats.

If there was ever greater evidence to re-establish specialised crime units it is this latest information that necessitates their reinstitution of we are to win the war on these particular areas of crime that have besieged the South African people across the country. This is something the DA has called for since their erroneous disbandment.

Sexual offences are down by 5.4% - but this may reflect the increased distrust in the SAPS by our citizens – and the fact that NGOs state that only 1 in 10 or even 1 in 20 rape victims, report the rape to the police.  53 517 may actually be 535 170 – over half a million rapes a year.

In light of all this, national government has failed in the war against crime to blame anyone province for this is a complete fabrication and deliberate misunderstanding of the law.

Section 11(1)&(2) of the SAPS Act expressly states that the “National Commissioner shall exercise control over the management of the police service in accordance with section 207(1) of the Constitution without derogating…”

National government and the SAPS are failing in the fight against crime. But we do not need to accept crime as an inescapable reality in South Africa.

To this end it is we need effective leadership of our SAPS. National government has failed police officers and citizens alike. Nowhere is this more clear than in the actions of Police Minister Nathi Nhleko who is more preoccupied with exonerating President Zuma in the Nkandla scandal and of National Police Commissioner Riah Phiyega who is now the subject of an inquiry for her conduct contributing to the Marikana Massacre. Our SAPS remains politically and operationally rudderless. Countless South African lives are at stake.

With the requisite time, effort, resources, and support from the public, the SAPS can begin to make inroads into stemming the tsunami of crime drowning our country. But this can only begin once we face up to the reality of the challenges that we face.

Crime affects each and every one of us. We must fight crime with all means at our disposal, because the people of South Africa deserve better. They do not need to live under siege in their barricaded homes, their increasingly alarm-protected cars and their high-walled communities.

Only through these interventions will we see a South Africa that is safe where families are not ripped apart. The DA’s vision is one which employment opportunities are easily accessible and our people don’t have to resort to crime. A society where our SAPS is well-trained, resourced and has the trust of the people they took an oath to serve and protect. This is a society that South Africans so desperately need and deserve. This society as envisioned by the DA is the only one that South Africans can value.

Issued by Dianne Kohler Barnard, DA Shadow Minister of Police, 29 September 2015