Mbombela – Violent contact crime in Mpumalanga has seen a sharp increase, with both murder and robbery with aggravating circumstances being at its highest levels in almost a decade. A similar picture is being painted by the statistics of the country as a whole with 20938 murders reported.
According to crime statistics generated by the South African Police Services (SAPS), robbery with aggravating circumstances have shown a massive increase of 45.7 per cent in Mbombela. For rape, a 41.7 per cent increase was reported.
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Mbombela also featured among the top 10 worst precincts in the country. The city was listed at number eight in the country relating to theft out of or from a motor vehicle, a total of 1243 reported incidents were reported. This figure is trumped with the much larger in population Cape Town Central with 3710 incidents reported.
Overall the province featured as the sixth most crime-infested area in South Africa, recording at total of 113125 crimes for the year, according to CSS, but the province is also the sixth most populous region in the country which explains this statistic.
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With regards to robbery at non-residential premises, the province recorded two of the worst precincts in the country, with Bushbuckridge at number six with 124 offences registered – whereas Johannesburg Central reported 232 robberies with a much larger population.
Rape has increased year-on-year for the past three years. The rape figure dramatically increased by 1553 registered sexual offences to a total of 41498 nationally. Mpumalanga also saw a large increase in sexual offences in general, which includes rape and sexual assault cases.
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There is some good news though, as drug related crimes decreased by 23.27 per cent for the province and by 28.13 per cent nationally.
Provincially and nationally there was a slight decrease in the total number of crimes committed, but violent contact crimes are still at an all-time high in relation to the 2017/2018 financial year.
Statistician, Lizette Lancaster from the Institute for Security Studies (ISS) stated that it is extremely worrisome that this province has shown an above-average increase across the board in most crime categories, in relation to the rest of the country.
“It all comes down to policing challenges, as the currently employed strategies and procedures used by the police are not working. There could also be gangs operating below the radar, which the police are not targeting,” she explained.
Lancaster added that the increase in violent crimes can also be attributed to failed interventions at home and in schools, as “children learn and apply what they see at home and when they become adults they think that solving problems with violence are acceptable.”
Provincial SAPS spokesperson, Brig Leonard Hlathi, could not be reached for comment at the time of going to press.
