Crime 'still unacceptably high'

2008-06-30 14:58

Pretoria - While the latest crime statistics show a steady decline, government is still concerned that crime levels are too high, Safety and Security Minister Charles Nqakula said on Monday.

He told media in Pretoria during the presentation of the annual crime report that even though the statistics indicated a steady decline, crime levels were still very high and "unacceptably so".

"Government wanted to see a more drastic decline."

He said there had been important interventions such as the redeployment of better human and material resources. However socio-economic conditions, especially prevalent in informal settlements, had given rise to a culture of crime.

Community members were not helping the fight against crime due to fear and in some cases financial benefit from the perpetrators which allowed them to commit criminal acts "willy nilly".

The stigma surrounding rape and indecent assault also prevented some victims from reporting to the police.

Community partnership

He said while it was the primary purpose of the police to deal with crime, community partnership was needed.

In cases where communities had aided police in fighting crime, the levels had reduced quite drastically.

Social crimes were still a "big problem" against women and children because the victims did not report the attacks to the police because their perpetrators were often in the same social environment, such as husbands, parents, family, friends and fellow community members.

"The police come into picture after the crime has already been committed," he said.

- SAPA