Slight increase in rape cases in Tsakani

Kwatsaduza – The SAPS and Statistics South Africa released the national crimes statistics for the period of April 1, 2019, to March 31, 2020.

This year the stats were released earlier than the usual September date as the SAPS will in future publish them on a quarterly basis.

Speaking at the release, minister of police Gen Bheki Cele said he hoped this new approach will allow for timely intervention measures aimed at crime reduction.

The stats are made up of 21 overall crime categories, 17 of which are those reported by the public and the remaining four are those as a result of police action.

Overall, the stats paint a positive picture of a decrease in crime across the country during the time period.

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The minister highlighted some of the improvements that have been made over the past year.

In contact crimes, particularly murder, the police recorded a trend of halving the number of reported cases over the past three years.

In 2017/18 the case difference was 1 320, in 2018/19 the cases difference was 686 and this year, they recorded a case difference of 303.

Stock theft, however, recorded an increase in the past three years.

Last year police thus made a commitment to deploy intervention measures in this regard, which proved to be yielding positive results and stock theft recorded a decrease of 4.2 per cent.

Cele said he always argued that the same resources deployed to fight aggravated robberies must equally be channelled to address stock theft as this is regarded as a serious crime to rural economy.

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“Another important category that has recorded a significant decrease is property-related crimes, where all crimes under this category indicated a major decrease, including burglary at residential premises, which has declined by 6.7 per cent.

“Robbery at residential properties also decreased by 5.8 per cent.”

Meanwhile, under the sub-categories of aggravated robbery, robbery of cash-in-transit recorded a decrease of 10.4 per cent and bank robberies declined by 100 per cent.

The minister explained that during the period under review, there were no bank robberies in South Africa.

“However, in the same category, carjacking and truck hijacking have recorded an increase of 13.3 per cent and 1.7 per cent, respectively.”

Cele said in the sexual offences category they noted that educational institutions are becoming hotbeds for sexual violence and 380 cases of rape were reported at schools, universities, colleges or day-care facilities.

He highlighted how policing had changed under the Covid-19 pandemic and said the pandemic has drastically redefined traditional policing.

Social distancing is now the new normal and effecting an arrest and a deployment at a community service centre suddenly demand a different standard operating procedure.

“All men and women in blue in the Republic of South Africa collided with the drastic turn of events and had to immediately adjust while focusing on serving and protecting the nation.

“This invisible enemy is brutal and it is attacking everyone.

“In the call of duty during this pandemic the SAPS has lost a total number of 113 police officers, while 12 138 have contracted the virus, with 254 hospitalised and 4 904 recoveries,” said Cele.

Although there was a slight decrease in the crime reported, Gauteng remains a dangerous place in which to live or work.In the 17 categories of crimes reported by public, there was a 2.2 per cent decrease.

During the 2019/2020 period, 463 509 crimes were reported by the public compared to the 474 005 reported the previous year.

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Crimes detected as a result of police action increased when compared to the last figures.

However, all is not lost.

Residents in Kwatsaduza will be happy to know the overall crime rate has decreased.

Last year, the Tsakani Police Station took the sixth position in the top 30 stations for dealing with assault with intent to inflict grievous bodily harm.

The latest stats show a drop of 7.3 per cent for this crime compared to the previous year.

The station also saw a 2.6 percent increase in rape, with 159 cases reported.

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