DA invokes Information Act

2003-06-11 16:33

Cape Town - The Democratic Alliance has officially applied to Safety and Security Minister Charles Nqakula for a copy of South Africa's latest crime statistics.

In a statement on Wednesday, DA safety and security spokesperson Douglas Gibson said the application had been made in terms of the Promotion of Access to Information Act.

"The government has steadfastly refused to release these statistics to date, a scenario which is simply unacceptable.

"During the (former president Nelson) Mandela years, the statistics were always available to parliament and the public," he said.

A moratorium on crime statistics was introduced about two years ago. Releases now take place once a year, in August, for the previous financial year.

Gibson said attempts to gain access to the statistics through parliamentary channels had been unsuccessful.

'Stabilising'

"The people of South Africa have a right to know what the crime levels are. It is not enough for Minister Nqakula to state that levels are stabilising, and to then just leave it at that. The statistics must be released on a regular basis."

MPs had a right to access to crime statistics.

"These numbers are a way of judging the police's performance and to exercise our oversight role over the government's fight against crime.

"How can MPs do their job properly and assess where the priorities are correct and adequate if we do not know what the instance of crime is or what the trends are?" Gibson said.

At 14:00 on Wednesday, a DA delegation, including Gibson, the party's deputy chair Dan Maluleke, and Whips Sandy Kalyan and Donald Lee, delivered the application to Nqakula's office at Parliament.

Replying to a member's statement by Gibson on the issue in the national assembly last week, Nqakula repeated that government would provide statistics on crime "in August, as part and parcel of the report of the National Commissioner (Jackie Selebi)".

Statistics given on a daily, weekly or monthly basis were not going to help.

Statistics were explained in the annual report tabled in Parliament, Nqakula said.

- SAPA