Johannesburg - Gauteng is once again the carjacking capital of South Africa, experts say, because police have lost their way because of political interference and a lack of focus.
On Friday, the SAPS top brass presented to Parliament the crime statistics from April to December 31, 2016. At a national level, the figures are positive, murder had decreased by 0.1%, contacts crimes by 1.9% and sexual offences by 6.35%
However, Gauteng, in that nine-month period saw well over 3 000 murders, with an increase of 3.7% even compared to the previous year.
The increases in so called trio crimes, carjackings, house and business robberies, in Gauteng are the most concerning to experts.
There were a total of 6 429 cases of hijacking reported to police in a 16.3% increase. Carjackings in that period were up by 14.9% in the province, while robberies at residential properties was up 5.3%.
Business robberies in Gauteng had increased by 6.5%.
Criminologist Professor Rudolph Zinn of Unisa said this increase, in particular of car hijackings, was what Gauteng was experiencing a decade ago.
“What is worrying is that these kinds of crimes are very violent and they leave people traumatised,” said Zinn. “This requires a bigger policing effort.”
Gareth Newham of the Institute for Security Studies, added that unlike other categories of crimes, trio offences can be easily combatted by the right police action.
“Your community has to rely on police to reduce robbery, robbers only stop if they are either arrested or are shot.”
The right police action, said Newham, is the use of specialised units working closely with SAPS crime intelligence.
“They did this in Gauteng between 2009 and 2011 and it was successful, carjacking was reduced by 32%, house robberies 20% and business robberies by 19%."
It is a strategy that has worked around the world, in cities like New York and Bogota in Colombia.
Another important strategy, that worked in reducing trio crimes back then, said Zinn was the introduction of specialised courts, with prosecutors with expertise in these types of crimes.
Zinn said the emphasis was in targeting the syndicates.
“The question police need to be asking is one they asked themselves a decade ago and that is how are we going to stop this,” said Zinn.
But what Zinn and Newham both point out is that police effectiveness is being hampered by the chaos in the organisation’s crime intelligence department. This, they said stems from Richard Mdluli's suspension.”You also have a situation where the Hawks don’t trust their boss, who have political dynamics undermining the police,” said Newham.
The Northern Cape saw a 13.6% decrease in murder, Limpopo (12.1%), Free State (7.2%), Eastern Cape (1.8%), and North West (0.7%).
Attempted murder nationally was down 0.8%, with decreases ranging from a 17.5% decrease in the Northern Cape to 3.1% in KwaZulu-Natal.
Sexual offences were down 6.3%, with 37 630 cases reported. However, in the Western Capecases increased 0.3%.
The problem with sex- related crimes, said Newham is that it is under- reported.
Andre Snyman, the founder of eBlockwatch, said hijackers were typically involved in a trio of crimes.
“The trend is that hijackings and house robberies have become interlinked. They hijack you, rob your home and then kidnap you and take you to an ATM where they force you to draw money, and then wait till midnight and force you to draw more money. It’s like a one-stop shop for them.
“These crimes have become very integrated, and organised at an almost corporate level. These guys are capitalising on one incident - starting with hijacking - which lessens their risk.”
MPs expressed concern about the continuing increase in trio crimes, with Police Minister Nathi Nhleko agreeing police needed to place a greater focus on preventing these crimes.
“Indeed, we should all of us be concerned,” he said.
“We need to definitely deal with this problem.”
The minister said SAPS’s back to basics approach should also be commended. It helped lower the statistics, he said.
“I think it is correct that we need to observe that there have been a number of significant strikes that have been registered on the side of the police service precisely because of the back to basics campaign
“In certain areas, we are beginning to experience better levels of performance.
“However, there is no reason for complacency. We must still do better,” he said.
Acting National Police Commissioner Kgomotso Phahlane said just because there had been a drop in contact crime nationally, “now was not the time to relax”.
He said extraordinary measures were initiated to cap the increase in crime - and these had yielded results.
“One of the problems was contact crimes, and in there we have murder. I know a lot is being written about murder being on the increase,” he said.
It was a problem and this was where the focus needed to be. The previous year police had concentrated on contact crimes, and these are now decreasing.
He said this showed that the situation was being addressed.
On Friday, President Jacob Zuma said the time has come to change the laws of South Africa and protect victims of crime.
He told the House of Traditional Leaders in Parliament that he was seriously considering tabling laws that would make it harder for criminals to be released.
“Our people cannot co-exist with crime, drug trafficking, hijackings, robbery, rape and all other horrible crimes We have tolerated it for too long. It is not acceptable that we cannot protect our people.”
* Additional reporting by Sheree Bega