Figures tabled in the Gauteng provincial legislature recently showed a clear rise in crime in the Pretoria CBD as well as the police’s inability to cope with this spike, opposition parties claim.
Fifty-two cases of serious crimes were reported between January 2019 and February 2022 at the Pretoria Central police station.
“Of these 52 cases, 43 remain unsolved while only two convictions were made,” said DA Gauteng spokesperson for community safety, Crezane Bosch.
“Four cases are still under investigation and three were withdrawn.”
Most crimes happened in the vicinity of Boom, Paul Kruger and Thabo Sehume streets, near the Pretoria Zoo.
They included armed robbery, common robbery, theft, business burglary and carjacking.
In 2019, 12 cases were opened, 16 cases in 2020, 22 cases in 2021 and two cases between January and February this year.
This was according to numbers tabled in the Gauteng provincial legislature recently by Gauteng MEC for Community Safety, Faith Mazibuko.
“This is a clear indication that innocent lives are at risk, yet the law enforcement agencies are not doing enough to ensure their safety,” said Bocsh.
She said areas close to the Pretoria Zoo in Paul Kruger Street, the mountain at Capital Park next to the Pretoria Zoo, from Struben to Venter street, were unsafe.
Bosch called on the Gauteng department of education and the department of community safety to take action.
She said the recent stabbing of a schoolgirl in the area by robbers came after numerous incidents were reported over the past few years of learners, teachers, security guards and general workers being attacked outside school premises in the area.
“That there has been an increase in reported cases and only a few convictions mean that the perpetrators are continuing to terrorise and steal from residents.”
Bosch said the DA would continue to demand more police visibility in all the crime hotspots.
Mazibuko, in her written reply, said police for the area held informal meetings to address the problems in and around the affected areas.
“Joint operations were conducted between Pretoria Central SAPS, Wonderboompoort SAPS, TMPD and community patrollers. In addition, the school safety programme is in place at the school. Metro police officers are also posted daily near the school to assist schoolchildren.”
She said provincial O Kae Molao police operations were also conducted in September and December last year to address these crimes.
Tshwane EFF chairperson Moafrika Mabogwane blamed the increase in crime on the “white elephant” surveillance cameras in the CBD.
In a council meeting last week, ANC and EFF councillors said working surveillance cameras could assist all law enforcement agencies in tackling crime in the area.
“Pretoria West has been hijacked and Sunnyside is another country, with a paradise of crime and drugs,” said ANC chief whip Aaron Maluleka.
Maluleka urged Tshwane mayor Randall Williams to service residents, “without prejudice”.
The Tshwane metro is currently seeking partnerships to revive its surveillance cameras.
Police had not yet to respond to an enquiry at the time of going to press.
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