Crime stats: Political parties express concern

‘Shocking, unacceptable, disturbing and loss of faith and trust in the Police’ are words used by political parties expressing their concerns about Limpopo’s crime rate which formed part of the national statistics revealed by Police Minister Bheki Cele last Thursday.
Democratic Alliance (DA) Limpopo Spokesperson on Community Safety Suzan Phala said in a statement that the statistics showed a drastic increase in serious crimes in Polokwane, Seshego, Mankweng and Thohoyandou respectively as well as in Limpopo as a whole.
“The high number of rapes in the province means that about ten women are raped every day in the province. This is an unacceptably high number considering that sexual offences such as rape also have a very low report rate,” she said.
She added that the high number of sexual offences in Limpopo is also worrying, considering the shortage of rape kits and the lack of sensitivity and training in the Police service to deal with victims of sexual crimes. “The fact that there are only six social crime prevention programmes and 73 victim empowerment centres and shelters in the province shows that the African National Congress (ANC) has failed to offer support in fighting sexual offences,” she said.
Phala further said that the increase in various serious crimes is a result of Police stations in Limpopo that are extremely under-resourced, under-staffed, under-trained and under-equipped. The increase in crimes such as stock theft, shoplifting and common robbery also show signs of citizens being forced to steal for their survival due to the ANC’s failure to create employment and enable economic growth.
Vryheidsfront Plus (VF+) Provincial Leader Marcelle Maritz remarked that the statistics are disturbing and that someone should start to man up and take responsibility for the high crime rate.
“The biggest concern is that the reported cases, especially sexual-related offences, are not even half of what happens in reality. Women are scared to report cases as they are victimised and intimidated. Secondly, courts should be more serious in their daily operations to keep perpetrators behind bars. When suspects get arrested they appear before court only to be back on the streets within a day or two. Criminals move around freely and we have to live in homes converted into prisons,” Maritz said.
Provincial Leader of the Economic Freedom Fighters (EFF) Jossey Buthane had not responded at the time of going to press.
Crime statistics
Limpopo
Comparing the statistics with the previous financial year some crimes showed some drastic increases in the province.
A total of 4 060 sexual offences were reported this year, an increase of 198 more cases or 5,1% increase compared to last year’s 3 862. Rape cases are up by 200 from 3 301 cases reported last year to 3 501 this year – an increase of 6,1%.
Shoplifting has also shown a big increase of 196 cases (6%) from 3 259 to 3 455 as well as commercial crime taking a hike of 10,2% or 382 more cases than in the previous year. Burglary at residential premises also showed a steep increase of 283 cases or a 2% increase from 14 351 cases to 14 634 reported cases. A total of 914 murders were reported, only three cases more than the previous year.
Drug-related crimes decreased from 19 592 to 13 533 cases, a 6 059 difference in cases or 30,9% decrease. Other crimes which showed a decrease include burglary at non-residential premises, 6 716 to 6 315, robbery at residential premises, 1 490 to 1 300, carjacking, 584 to 474 and theft of motor vehicle which went down from 1 024 cases to 861.
Police stations
Polokwane Police Station has recorded a massive 21,7% increase in sexual offences, from 46 in 2017/18 to 56 in 2018/19, a 23,6% increase in common robbery of 144 cases to 178 cases, 87,5 % increase in carjacking of eight cases to 15 cases and 400% increase in arson meaning from one case to five being reported.
Five more rape cases or an increase of 17,2% were reported while burglary at residential premises also increased by 89 cases from 520 to 609 or a 17,1% increase.
Some cases showed a decrease such as murder, from 21 to 18, robbery at non-residential areas, from 33 to 22 and burglary at non-residential premises, from 381 to 319.
Westenburg showed an overall decrease in most crimes especially contact crimes such as murder, sexual offences and assault with intent to inflict grievous bodily harm. Robbery at residential premises, malicious damage to property, theft out of or from motor vehicle and commercial crime also had less cases reported.
The statistics revealed that Seshego had experienced more decreases that increases across all crime categories. Assault with intent to inflict bodily harm decreased from 760 cases to 677 equal to a 10,9%. Eleven less sexual assault cases were reported as well as common robbery which decreased from 232 to 182 cases.
In the contrary commercial crime and stock theft increased by 29 and 26 cases respectively.
Mankweng had a 21,1 % increase of 38 to 46 cases in murder, 23,1% increase of 26 to 32 cases of attempted murder, 5,6% increase in sexual offences of 196 to 207 cases as well as 39,4% or nine cases to 15 for shoplifting.

Story: RC Myburgh
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