Gauteng shows worrying crime trends across the board
It is unacceptable that crime in Gauteng appears to be on the increase in all major categories.
This is according to DA shadow MEC of Community Safety, Kate Lorimer MPL.
“The 2013/14 statistics for the province do little to reassure residents that the SAPS have a handle on criminal activity,” says Lorimer.
Of particular concern are significant increases in violent crimes in the province. This includes an 11.2 per cent increase in murder; 8.1 per cent increase in attempted murder and 18.9 per cent increase in robbery with aggravating circumstances.
Other worrying categories included a 22.5 per cent increase in car-jacking; 4.4 per cent increase in truck-jacking and 12.6 per cent increase in robbery at residential premises.
Shockingly, bank robberies increased 1 000 per cent in the year under review, from one robbery in 2012/13, to 11 in 2013/14. Gauteng recorded the most incidents in this category overall.
While drug-related crime detected as a result of police action increased by 95.8 per cent, Lorimer says that this still speaks to an alarming increase in the drug-scourge in Gauteng.
The DA spokesperson for Community Safety, Michele Clarke MPL, says that the need for specialised drug units has never been more urgent.
According to a response from Gauteng Community Safety MEC Sizakele Nkosi-Malobane to written questions from the DA, only 65 successful convictions have come from 127 400 drug-related arrests in Gauteng since 2011.
“This is a shocking – 1.5 per cent conviction rate over four years. While police intervention into drug-related crime may be increasing, it appears that the SAPS are not getting to the core of this issue.
“We need to do more than just arrest low-key dealers and street traders; serious inroads into this issue will only come with bringing down big drug bosses and kingpins.”
Clarke says that improved crime intelligence and specialised drug units are the only way to yield more convictions and a significant decrease in this crime.
“Despite several attempts to have these units reinstated, the provincial government continues to delay in taking serious action in this regard,” says Clarke.
Of particular worry, adds Lorimer, is that crime has not shown a notable decrease during the current year; statistics of which will only be released in 2015.
“This year alone, residents of Gauteng have faced an onslaught of mall robberies, drug-related crime and crime against women and children.”
The Gauteng City Region Observatory report for 2012/13, indicated that one in four people have been directly affected by crime in Gauteng.
“Residents of this province and greater South Africa cannot be expected to live under constant fear and the threat of violence,” says Lorimer. – @IschkeBoksburg
