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Nqakula sees 'a rosy future'
27/09/2006 23:17 - (SA)
Pretoria - Safety and Security Minister Charles Nqakula says: "I feel that South Africa is enjoying better safety than the case has been in the past.
"Even more than this, the future looks even rosier than the present is."
"The light at the end of the tunnel, is the encouraging response from victims who are coming forward to report crimes," said Nqakula.
He was addressing a media briefing at the Union Buildings in Pretoria on the release of the South African Police Service's crime statistics for the 2005/'06 financial year in its annual report published on Wednesday.
There was an understanding that the police could not be expected to be the only people responsible for crime fighting.
'Strike caused crime spike'
"What has happened that I am very excited about is that more people... are coming forward and saying we will be part and parcel of the fight against crime," said Nqakula.
National police commissioner Jackie Selebi attributed a spike in crime between April and June, especially in Gauteng, to the strike by security guards.
"In this period, there was a strike by security guards. This meant some of the areas which were guarded by the security guards were left unattended," he said.
The violence of the strike also meant officers had to be taken from their normal duties to police the strikers.
Selebi said: "Our resources were stretched."
Nqakula noted that all eight categories of contact crimes had decreased in the past year.
Four had shown significant decreases - common robbery by 18.3%, attempted murder by 16.6%, common assault by 15.6% and serious and violent assaults by 9.6%.
Murders rapes 'remain a concern'
"We are satisfied that, in those categories, the target set by the government of reducing serious and violent crimes was achieved," he said.
The decrease in the number of robberies with aggravating circumstances also was "encouraging".
Murders, rapes and indecent assaults "remained a cause for concern", despite decreases, said Nqakula.
"We are unhappy.... that the decreases have not been as dramatic, as the case is regarding the other crime types."
The official rape figures indicated a drop of 1% to 54 926 incidents in 2005/'06 - from 55 114 in the previous year.
This represented 150.4 rapes a day.
The murder figures showed that this crime had decreased by only 2% - 18 545 people were murdered between April last year and March this year. In the previous year, the figure stood at 18 793.
Country's hot spots named
Cash-in-transit heists have increased 74.1% in the past year.
And, the stats also showed the cities which had the worst rates for certain types of crimes.
Those worst affected by contact crimes were Hillbrow in Johannesburg, followed by KwaMashu and Umlazi in Durban.
Central business districts (CBD) were the places most affected by robberies.
Police crime information head Chris de Kock said car hijackings were up 3.1%, truck hijackings 10.9%, and bank robberies 1.7%.
Nqakula said challenges still remained when it came to alcohol and drug abuse which continued to be a problem as "generators of crime".
He said police had focused on serious and violent crimes since the middle of July with cordon-and-search operations and roadblocks.
150 repeat offenders arrested
He said that between July and September 384 people were arrested for 687 cases under investigation.
"There are, in a nutshell, 234 suspects who will be charged in 216 cases for serious and violent crimes.
Repeat offenders who were arrested totalled 150, having been linked to 471 cases."
The police would continue to pay attention to serious and violent crime.
Nqakula said 5 956 firearms were recovered from the middle of June to the end of July as part of an ongoing project to reduce the circulation of illegal firearms in South Africa.
The stats showed that 23 482 firearms had been destroyed.
Nqakula said more than 15 syndicate leaders and 51 of their runners had been arrested between June and July.
Nqakula said crimes against women and children continued to be a source of deep concern with slight increases in, particularly, rape and indecent assault.
SAPS restructuring 'will help'
Selebi said the restructuring of the police would lead to a decrease in crime.
He said the "redeployment" would see a substantial increase in staff at police stations.
"A station that had 150 people is getting an additional 135 people, there is no way they can perform in the same way as before," said Selebi.
He said the "proof of the pudding is in the eating" and more police officers on the ground should lead to less crime.
Police stationed at area level, including those working for the family violence, child protection and sexual offences (FCS) and violent crime units, would be moved to station level after a decision by police management earlier in the year.
Several experts have expressed their concern about the decision, saying it would weaken the fight against crime in certain areas. Selebi said he did not believe this would happen. - Beeld/Sapa
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