'Act on all violent crime'
2009-09-23 07:40
Johannesburg - The government should focus attention on all forms of armed violence rather than exclusively on house and business robberies, the Centre for the Study of Violence and Reconciliation said on Tuesday.
"We are concerned that the crime statistics will be used once again to motivate for focus on the trio robberies [house, business, car robberies] when there is clearly a need for a renewed and comprehensive engagement by government with the overall problem of violent crime," said CSVR researcher David Bruce.
He said this after the 2008/09 crime statistics revealed increases of 27.3% in household robberies, 41% on business robberies, and respectively 5% and 14.4% on car and truck hijackings.
This, says Bruce, could overshadow other forms of violent crimes like incidents of sexual violence which were usually committed with the use of weapons like guns and knives.
'Focus on all armed violence'
"The government must focus on all armed violence, not just trio robberies. This implies focusing on the overall problem of armed violence... involving violent crimes committed with guns or knives, as well as sexual violence," he said.
On releasing the crime statistics, Police Minister Nathi Mthethwa said sexual offences had increased by 10.1%, but added that the increase could be attributed to changes in the legislation whereby new categories were added to the category of sexual offences.
"CSVR recognises the seriousness of the problem with trio robberies. However, we would caution against an exclusive focus on these robberies [because] at this point they make up 38% (47 273 cases) of aggravated robberies in crime statistics and therefore do not make up the bulk of aggravated robberies," said Bruce.
He said prioritising "trio" robberies reflected the fact that wealthier South Africans were prioritised more than their poorer counterparts as they tended to complain more than poor South Africans.
Focusing on violent crime generally and disarming criminals would help reduce murder, rape and aggravated robbery cases, said Bruce.
- SAPA