The 2013/14 annual crime statistics released on Friday, September 19, sought to disclose the fluctuations of criminal activity across the South African landscape.
In a conference held at the SAPS Training Academy in Pretoria, Police Minister, Nkosinathi Nhleko, gave a brief background and overview of South Africa’s crime statistics. Mr Nhleko stated the statistics presented were based on raw figures which were cases reported and dealt with that led to arrests or convictions. These figures were audited by the Auditor General of South Africa.
South Africa’s crime fighting arsenal consists of approximately 194 852 police officers, which amounts to the ratio of one police officer per 364 citizens. The international ratio standard is one officer per 450 citizens. Mr Nhleko said the SAPS was responsible for 53 million people in South Africa across 1137 police stations around the country.
He also noted concerns expressed in the past over the integrity of the crime statistics. He said the SAPS had already started working with Statistics South Africa to improve the quality and integrity of the statistics creating a “double assurance” for future statistics. The SAPS established a task team, which is almost finalised, with Statistics South Africa to develop new crime statistics policies.
The increase in social unrest poses a challenge for the SAPS. “Contact crime remains a dominant feature in South Africa’s social outlook. A broader and macro solution is required to stabilise social unrest.
There are still high levels of violence and abuse prevalent in our society which in itself is a concern,” said Mr Nhleko. The prevalence of alcohol and drug abuse remains a serious concern; there are more taverns than schools in some areas.
National Police Commissioner, Riah Phiyega, elaborated on the statistics in detail. “We are focusing on actual crime figures. These are real
reported crime figures. We focus on actual crime figures as they are reported.”
The following are some of the increases and decreases observed over the previous financial year. Robbery, up by 12.7 per cent, and drug-related crimes, which increased by 26.1 per cent, were some of the larger increases noted. Property-related crimes decreased by 21 per cent. There was a 1.3 per cent decrease in contact-related crimes, commercial theft decreased by 13.6 per cent and common robbery increased by 0.6 per cent. Contact crimes went up by 0.5 per cent.
Alarmingly, murder went up by 5.1 per cent and attempted murder by 4.6 per cent. According to what Commissioner Phiyega says, 17 068 people were murdered in South Africa last year, amounting to 47 people killed every day; 800 more than year before. According to the 2012 National Crime Victimisation Survey, 98.2 per cent of murders were reported. The total figure for murder has increased by 6.6 per cent over the last 10 years.
The latest statistics showed rape was down by 6.3 per cent nationwide and sexual offences down by 5.6 per cent. other areas such as assault with intent to inflict grievous bodily harm decreased by 1.5 per cent. Vehicle theft and stock theft both dropped by 2.6 per cent.
In the long run, over past ten years (from 2004/5 to 2013/14) contact crimes reduced by 26.8 per cent, Assault with intent to inflict grievous bodily harm decreased by 26.5 per cent and the serious crimes group decreased by 19.2 per cent.
Citizens reported 84.1 per cent of crimes on which the data was based on via police stations; the remaining 15.9 per cent was detected by police action.
The under-reporting of crime undermines efforts to combat and prevent crime in South Africa. There is no way to know exactly how many crimes go unreported, though Statistics South Africa’s annual National Victims of Crime Survey (NVCS) does provide some insights.
Commissioner Phiyega said it was important to know if citizens were feeling safe and they were working on something to monitor this. Commissioner Phiyega urged communities, civil society and all stake holders to help Saps root out the scourge of crime.
Commissioner Phiyega continually emphasised that we continue to see some decrease in the overall rate of crime. But even so, the number of violent robberies was the highest it’s been in five years at 119 351.
Police visibility should be increased, said Commissioner Phiyega. Driving under the influence of alcohol and drugs went down by 1.8 per cent in past year, and by 133.1 per cent over past 10 years.
With more than 600 life sentences dealt out within the last year, Commissioner Phiyega’s message was clear; “We do convict.”
Crimes detected by police increased by 167.3 per cent over the last 10 years and by 18.2 per cent in the previous financial year. Illegal firearm possession detection rose by 3.7 per cent. Mr Nhleko, denied police intelligence was dysfunctional. He said police detection led to dismantling 35 drug factories in the last year and proved otherwise.
These latest crime statistics were a stark reminder of how far South Africa still had to go to reduce violence and crime, the Institute for Security Studies (ISS) said on September 19.
“A second consecutive year of increases in serious violent crime such as murder, attempted murder and aggravated robbery are of particular concern to all South Africans,’ said Gareth Newham, head of the ISS Governance, Crime and Justice division.
“Murder is up by 5 per cent with an additional 809 murders. Robbery increases are particularly concerning. Home robbery is up 7.4 per cent, with 1 334 more cases than the previous year. Business robbery is up by 13.7 per cent with 2 238 more attacks, and car hijacking is up by 12.3 per cent with 1 231 more attacks than occurred the previous year. “This shows that we urgently need a new approach to reduce violence and crime,” Mr Newham said. “We must address serious challenges facing the police, involve other government departments, and look hard at the factors which cause violence.”
