Durban - Minister of Police Bheki Cele has revealed that out of the 259 suspects arrested for rape in March in KwaZulu-Natal, more than half of them were granted bail.
Cele made the revelation in a parliamentary written question after the IFP’s Zandile Majozi asked Cele about the 9 169 suspects that were arrested for various crimes in March 2022 across all 11 districts in KZN.
When issuing a statement, police spokesperson Lieutenant-Colonel Nqobile Gwala said a total of 9 169 suspects were arrested for various crimes.
Police managed to arrest 198 suspects for murder, 157 for attempted murder, 291 for robberies, 259 for rape, 2 033 for assault, 289 for burglary, and 1 568 suspects were arrested for drug-related crimes. Large quantities of drugs such as possession of heroin, cocaine, ecstasy, crystal meth, and dagga were seized by police, Gwala said.
Majozi had asked that of the 198 suspects arrested for murder, 157 suspects arrested for attempted murder and 259 suspects arrested for rape, how many resulted in criminal charges being laid against them; how many were granted bail and what motivated them to be granted bail, considering the serious nature of the crimes.
Cele said that all arrests had resulted in criminal charges being laid against the suspects.
He said that of the 259 suspects arrested for rape, 195 were granted bail.
Cele then said that of the 198 suspects arrested for murder, 29 were granted bail, and of the 157 suspects arrested for attempted murder, 26 were granted bail.
“Bail was opposed by the investigating officers because of the seriousness of the cases, and the prosecutors presented it to court. However, the magistrates granted bail,” Cele said.
Gwala went on to say that counterfeit goods, including cigarettes, were also seized during police operations. Stolen property, including 205 vehicles that were stolen or robbed from their lawful owners, were recovered by police. Another 43 vehicles were seized after they were used in the commission of crimes.
Police also seized 282 firearms during these operations. Among the 9 firearms seized were 16 home-made firearms, 237 revolvers, 15 rifles, shotguns and five semi-automatic firearms. A total of 2 897 rounds of ammunition were also seized during operations. Livestock such as cattle, donkeys, goats and sheep were recovered by police, Gwala said.
Daily News