Cape Town - General crime is the worst it’s been in South Africa for 20 years, the latest statistics show.
All national contact crimes, such as murders and robberies, among others, surged by a combined 18.5% in the second quarter of 2022 compared to the same quarter last year.
Police presented the second quarter (July 1 to September 30) statistics to MPs before posting the crime data online.
Police Minister Bheki Cele’s critics charge that he doesn’t have the answers and has no business heading the police ministry.
Contact crimes in the Western Cape are as follows:
s -URDERS ROSE BY FROM to 1 050 – the worst since 2018. Cele was reappointed to the ministry in May 2019.
s 3EXUAL OFFENCES ROCKETED BY 26.3% from 1 468 to 1 815 – the worst since 2019.
s /NLY ATTEMPTED MURDERS DIPPED by 1.1% from 928 to 918.
s !SSAULT WITH THE INTENT TO INFLICT grievous bodily harm (GBH) shot up 20.2% from 4 500 to 5 410.
s 4HE PROVINCE RECORDED COMmon assault cases in the same quarter in 2018. This has jumped 24.4% from 7 915 in last year’s second quarter to 9 849 the previous quarter.
s #OMMON ROBBERY WENT UP from 1 965 to 2 501.
s 2OBBERY WITH AGGRAVATING CIRcumstances is up 24.2% from 4 915 to 6 106.
Women and children continue to bear the brunt of the crime catastrophe gripping the country, with 989 women and 315 children murdered between July and September.
In the Western Cape, 36 rapes in domestic settings, 162 rapes and 3 951 common assaults were recorded.
Cele and police officials told MPs that, nationally, crimes increased from 137 145 to 162 518 (18.5%) in reported murders, common assault, sexual offences, attempted murder, assault with intent to inflict grievous bodily harm (GBH), common assault and robbery, and robbery with aggravating circumstances.
A shocked Tina Joemat-Pettersson, the committee chairperson, said: “We cannot accept that despite the significant resources we are dedicating towards women and children, the picture has become significantly bleak.”
Cele said the rapes and murders of women and children were “worrying”, but he added they were “unpoliceable” as more than 50% of these crimes occurred in homes.
The Nyanga precinct topped the contact crimes nationally, after an increase from 923 to 1 077, a count difference of 154 or 16.7%.
Mfuleni (3rd) saw an increase from 771 to 963 (192 or 24.9%), while Harare rounded off the top 10 with an increase from 666 to 809, or a count different of 143 (21.5%).
Nyanga, Harare and Philippi East made up the top three hijacking hot spots in SA, with a combined 356 cases between the three.
Crime registrar Thulare Sekhukhune said the murder ratio had increased to the worst since 2018, from 10 in 100 000 in the last quarter to 12 in 100 000 nationally.
Action Society Director of Community Safety, Ian Cameron, laid the blame squarely on Cele, saying: “The statistics paint a picture of a police ministry failing its primary task. And, it is a direct result of political interference and mismanagement of the police.”