DURBAN - POLITICAL parties and police unions have blamed the increase in crime on budget cuts, a lack of resources and poor management.
On Friday, Police Minister Bheki Cele announced the country’s crime statistics for the first quarter between April 1 and June 30.
The stats showed that the murder rate had increased by 60.2%, with a total of 5 760 people dying during this period. Contact crimes saw a 60.6% increase and aggravated robberies went up by a steep 92.2%. More than 10 000 people were raped during this period, with 487 cases of rape-related to domestic violence.
DA KwaZulu-Natal spokesperson on community safety and liaison, Sharon Hoosen, said the statistics were clear evidence of the ongoing threat to the safety of people in the province. Hoosen said KZN remained the country’s murder “capital”, with 1 404 people killed during the three-month period, while 1 959 people were raped.
The uMlazi and Plessislaer police stations topped the list regarding reported murder cases, while the Inanda SAPS reported the most rape cases.
“When governance fails, criminals thrive and this, unfortunately, is the case in our province,” Hoosen said.
Hoosen said KZN’s crime levels had been rising at an alarming rate even prior to the pandemic.
“Every quarter, the people of KZN are promised reduced crime in their communities and a safer environment for women and children. Yet they remain empty promises as the top brass continue to fail to provide necessary resources to KZN’s 184 SAPS stations.
“The DA will be calling on the Community Safety MEC Peggy Nkonyeni together with the provincial SAPS commissioner to detail the plan of action aimed at reducing key priority crimes as a matter of extreme urgency,” she said.
IFP MP Zandile Majozi said the statistics were proof that the police were unable to keep South Africans safe.
“These shocking numbers reflect a SAPS management in complete disarray, with police officers executing orders that have no real impact on the daily lives of our people.”
Majozi said it could not be considered normal, in any society, for 5 760 people to be killed within a three-month period.
Police and Prisons Civil Rights Union KZN chairperson Jeffrey Dladla said the SAPS was a labour-intensive institution and it was severely affected by budget cuts.
“We need people who will physically go to crime scenes. There is a shortage of vehicles, with some members having to attend to complaints at high speed. So, if you cut resources, you will always have problems,” Dladla said.
He said their members were faced with critical situations where they were outnumbered and exposed to danger, because their job required manpower.
Mpho Kwinika, general secretary of the Independent Policing Union, said a lack of leadership and resources had resulted in shortcomings in proactive policing and the dysfunctionality of the country’s crime intelligence unit.
“The crime stats released and moderated by Stats SA are a terrible indictment of police performance, and until we remove politics from policing, South Africans will continue to become victims of opportunistic crime," Kwinika said.
Henry Geldenhuys, president of TLU SA, an organisation that speaks for and defends farmers, said it was not enough for Cele to say that the restructuring programme was progressing well.
He said Cele should put effective plans in place and use the available funds to fight crime effectively.
“Cuts to the police’s budget are unacceptable and the rest is lost to misapplication and corruption, while crime in the country is at a critical point," Geldenhuys said.
Daily News