Opposition parties are of the view that the statistics show that Gauteng residents are under a daily threat from criminals. Gauteng is in the lead with the highest number of crimes reported in the country.
Freedom Front Plus spokesperson, Pieter Groenewald, said nationally murder had increased by 9.6 percent in the past two years and by 4.6 percent in the past year. Groenewald said this translated into 17 805 people being murdered in the country in the past year, which is a murder every 30 minutes. In terms of attempted murder, Gauteng is second to Western Cape with an increase of 8.7 percent. “This increase in violent crime indicates that South Africa is increasingly becoming a violent country,” Groenewald said.
He added that the credibility of the statistics was suspect and the fact that Statistics South Africa was part of the process, did not make it any more credible.
Meanwhile, the Inkhatha Freedom Party (IFP) in Gauteng noted the crime statistics with great concern following the upward trend of contact crime (crime against a person) rates in Gauteng.
“It is notable that contact crimes, particularly in Gauteng, have been on a steady rise in recent years and, though they occur within communities in the gaze of all people, they still seem to be a great challenge that demands more attention from the police,” said IFP Gauteng caucus leader, Bonginkosi Dhlamini.
According to statistics, murder in Gauteng has escalated by 10.4 percent for the period between April last year to January this year. Attempted robbery went up by 8.7 percent during the same period, with other crimes in the community such as common robbery rising by 11.6 percent and robbery with aggravating circumstances increasing by 11.4 percent. Dhlamini said these statistics were most worrying and reflected the lack of safety in Gauteng. He asked what the Gauteng government would do about these serious crimes.
Democratic Alliance Gauteng Shadow MEC for Community Safety, Kate Lorimer said the statistics showed that residents of Gauteng were under an increasing daily threat from criminals. “In all but five of the 27 categories of crime statistics reported, Gauteng leads all of South Africa with the highest number of crimes reported,” she said. “The exceptions are murder where Gauteng has the second highest number, the illegal possession of firearms (second highest), drug related crimes (second highest), sexual offences as a result of police action (third highest) and stock theft. On average, 1 746 crimes are committed in Gauteng per day,” Lorimer said. There had been 3 671 murders in the province.
AfriForum’s head of community safety, Ian Cameron said the statistics were a clear indication of the incompetent leadership in the management of the police.
“It is simple, General Riah Phiyega needs to be sacked,” Cameron said.
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