Crime stats drop, but sexual offences increase
Provincial Police Commissioner, Lt Genl Thembi Hadebe and Community Safety MEC, Mavhungu Lerule-Ramakhanya officially launched the fourth quarter 2020/21 crime stats, that saw a general decline in the number of overall cases.
But, according to the MEC, the increase in sexual offence cases, from 85 to 115, compared to the same period last year, is worrying. Other notable increases include rape which increased by 2,8%, moving from 815 cases to 838 of which both the Seshego and Mankweng stations are high contributors.
The MEC says the overall stats show that the province is moving in the right direction although she is worried about the prevalence of sexual offences.
“As a province we need to develop new programmes and strategies on how to better deal with sexual offences in a manner that will leave the police one step ahead of these crimes. We need to ensure that we prevent these crimes from happening and that a stern message is sent out to all that have committed the crime.”
Lt Genl Hadebe says the police are speeding up the process of establishing a sex offenders register through a national task team, that will document any person’s particulars who has been found guilty of such an offence.
“The sex offenders register will assist to prevent repeating offences. We have noted that a number of sexual offenders have been previously convicted of some sort of sexual offence and we are hoping the register will help the community and police to identify these habitual offenders.”
She says along with this, the police will be intensifying visibility, road blocks and patrols in areas which have been flagged as hotspots. Some of these areas include Seshego, Mankweng, Thohoyandou and Giyani where there is a prevalence of the sexual crimes, and the stations form part of the top 30 stations nationally for sexual offences.
