Polokwane ranks top countrywide for business burglaries
The 2023 first quarter national crime statistics were released on Friday, and show that five out of seven categories of crimes that relate to theft in some way or another, are rife in the area.
POLOKWANE – Burglaries at businesses and industrial sites have seen an 94.7% increase year-on-year, according to the latest crime statistics released for the period.
Except for a drop of 4.9% in shoplifting, and a slight reduction in recorded cases of drunk driving, Polokwane tops the list of burglaries at non-residential premises countrywide for this period.
The 2023 first quarter national crime statistics were released on Friday, and show that five out of seven categories of crimes that relate to theft in some way or another, are rife in the area.
These include property- related, theft out, or from motor vehicles, commercial theft and other serious crimes.
In the same period last year, the local station recorded 76 cases of burglaries at non-residential sites, with this number skyrocketing to 150 between April and May.
Crime-combating operation ‘Shanela’, launched last Saturday by Police Deputy Minister, Cassel Mathale in Seshego, has already been yielding the desired results, based on a recent police report.
Loosely translated as an act of sweeping from IsiZulu, Shanela, through the collaboration of other safety authorities such as traffic officers, community policing forums and by-law enforcement officers, ensured the arrest of 1 693 suspects on various crimes – mostly relating to fraud, robberies and burglaries in Limpopo between August 14-20.
According to a post-operation provincial police report, nine firearms, 110 rounds of ammunition and 33 knives were confiscated from 35 suspects across the province.
Mathale, said this effort would assist in reducing the trend of thievery in Polokwane as reflected in several national crime statistics and other forms of crime.
