Minister of Police, Bheki Cele speaks during the quarterly crime statistics briefing held at the GCIS in Pretoria, 19 August 2022. Picture: Neil McCartney / The Citizen
The Economic Freedom Fighters (EFF) has criticised Police Minister Bheki Cele as the country’s murder rate continues its upward trajectory.
Presenting the firster quarter crime statistics, Cele revealed on Friday that murder cases in South Africa increased by 11.5%.
The Police Minister said 6,424 people were killed between April and June 2022, an increase of 664 compared to the same period last year when the country was placed under Covid-19 lockdown level one and two.
The KwaZulu-Natal (KZN) province recorded the highest number of multiple murders, followed by Gauteng and the Eastern Cape.
Reacting to this, the EFF said the crime stats painted “a very disheartening picture of the levels of crime in this country”.
“While previously the Western Cape and KZN were murder hotspots, the Eastern Cape is now a major hotspot for murders in this country.
“We believe there is a strong correlation between the rising numbers of murder cases and the deterioration of policing capacity in the Eastern Cape in particular, even though the situation is not getting better in any of the provinces in the country,” the party said in a statement on Friday.
LISTEN: Violent crimes increase on a yearly basis in South Africa – Crime stats analysis
“We are also deeply concerned that 2,766 of these murders were committed using firearms, as this points to the proliferation of illegal firearms in the country, which are then used to commit crimes.
“This could not be as prevalent as it now is if the country had capable and functioning crime intelligence services,” the Red Berets said in a statement on Friday.
The EFF also expressed concern over 9,516 cases of rape that were reported to the police.
The party highlighted that the reported cases were only a fraction of the actual number of rapes that were recorded across country “as many studies have demonstrated”.
“We have repeatedly bemoaned the fact that the number of rapes is not matched by the number of arrests in this country, least of all, the number of convictions.
“This means that rapists have free range to rape repeatedly without ever getting caught. With the collapse of key services such as the DNA forensic Laboratory under the stewardship of Minister Cele at SAPS, many of these rapists will never see the inside of jail because of lack of DNA evidence,” the statement reads.
The Red berets further took a swipe at Finance Minister Enoch Godongwana, who has been accused of sexual harassment.
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“A senior cabinet minister, Mr. Enoch Godongwana stands accused of having sexually violated a woman at a massage parlour, but he is still in his job, unbothered and not charged.”
The EFF added that Cele was “woefully out of his depth” as the Minister of Police,
“He does not have the slightest clue of what needs to be done to make SAPS a functional and responsive police service. Under normal circumstances, Cele ought to have been fired a long time ago. We still call on Mr. Ramaphosa to put the nation first and fire this useless minister.”
Meanwhile, Western Cape premier Alan Winde and Cape Town mayor Geordin Hill-Lewis has urged Cele to allow more policing powers to provincial and local government.
“These localised declines in violent crime where we are intervening is proof positive that the model of more policing powers at a provincial and local level is working,” Winde said on Friday.
Mitchells Plain saw a 42,9% decline in murders, while Kraaifontein and Khayelitsha went down by 16,4% and 14,3% respectively.
“While there is much more to do, and still far too much violent crime, these stats demonstrate encouraging progress in favour of more policing power for provinces and cities.
“That is why we have asked Minister Bheki Cele to fully empower local metro police and law enforcement officers with full crime fighting and investigation powers, and devolve the management of SAPS. Today’s stats show this should proceed, and the Minister should not stand in the way of this happening.
NOW READ: Crime stats 2022: South Africa’s murder hotspots revealed
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