Police Minister Bheki Cele in Soweto on 11 July 2022. Picture: Nigel Sibanda
Police Minister Bheki Cele says the police are not comforted by the decrease of the murder rate in South Africa while attempted murders were on an upward trend.
The latest crime statistics show a slight decrease in the number of murders and sexual offences reported in the second quarter of the year.
There were 6,945 murders reported between July and September, which is a decrease of 0.7% compared to the previous quarter.
There was an uptick, however, of 756 attempted murders, with 6,911 cases having been reported to the police in the same period.
Briefing the media on Friday, Cele said attempted murder was an intention of using “maximum violence” so the fact that murders went down did not “comfort” the police.
“It doesn’t give us comfort even the decrease of the murders in the small figures. One person dead is too many… we are very much aware that these figures are too high for people to be dying in South Africa,” he told reporters.
“Crime that is violent is here in South Africa. Yes, less people as we see here are dead, but violence has not been reduced.”
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The minister highlighted violent crimes such as rape and murder cannot be tackled by the police alone, while ordinary citizens turned a blind eye to incidents taking place in their own communities.
He stressed that an integrated approach was necessary.
“We have a problem with the mentality or mental approach of South Africans… we really need to do much more as a society.
“The whole society, all partners [including] NGOs, churches, parents, [and] families we must make a [contribution] in fighting crime, especially crime against women, children and the elderly,” Cele said.
Furthermore, Cele lambasted the Western Cape government over its call to devolve the powers of the police after being questioned about the matter by one of the journalists.
The minister said the devolution of powers had “nothing to do with Cele when it comes to the signing of provincial capabilities of policing”.
He referred the calls to Justice Minister, Ronald Lamola.
“Devolution of powers is in the Constitution of the Republic of South Africa, it’s not even legislated. I have spoken to the leadership of the Western Cape especially, the premier, the MEC and a gentleman called JP Smith to say stop crying on the wrong funeral. Them calling for powers from Cele is crying on the wrong funeral. There is a Minister of Constitutional Development in this country.”
Cele also pointed out the Western Cape had the lion’s share of police resources when compared to other provinces.
“They are receiving a big chunk more than anybody.”
The minister further said he would not stop the Western Cape government from seeking policing powers before seemingly criticising the province for spreading propaganda like Nazi Germany.
“If they want to go I have explained [that they must start the constitutional processes]. I hope this question will to [come] an end because it looks like somebody has learned very well from [Nazi leader Adolf] Hitler or [Nazi Minister of Propaganda Joseph] Goebbels in that province to say if you repeat [something] time and again, somebody will understand somewhere. I don’t know why this question will be asked forever,” an irritated Cele said.
According to the crime stats, the three police stations (Nyanga, Delft and Mfuleni) in the Western Cape made the top five out of 30 stations that recorded the most contact crimes including murder, sexual offences, common assaults and common robbery.
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