Durban - The Democratic Alliance on Tuesday described South Africa’s crime statistics as catastrophic and said its murder rate was indicative of a country at war.
DA police spokeswoman Dianne Kohler Barnard said that the country’s murder rate had increased for the third consecutive year since National Police Commissioner Riah Phiyega took up her position as the police’s top officer.
“A year ago there were 17 068 murders which worked out to 47 murders a day. The increase revealed today means that the murder rate is up to 17 805 which means 49 South Africans are murdered in this country each and every day. This number of deaths is what one would expect from a country at war. This is catastrophic.”
Kohler Barnard’s statement follows the release of the country’s crime statistics earlier on Tuesday in Parliament, which revealed that the number of people murdered in the country in 2014/15 had risen 4.6 percent over the previous year to 17 805 people murdered.
Attempted murder was up 3.2 percent nationally.
Truck hijackings in South Africa shot up by a whopping 29.1 percent while car hijacking also saw a notable increase of 14.2 percent, according to the figures released.
She said that the decision by former national commissioner Jackie Selebi to disband the police’s specialised units was having a disastrous effect on the battle against crime.
“Drug-related crime is up by 2.4 percent since last year and an astronomical 182 percent since 2004/2005, most likely because of the disastrous Selebi-era disbandment of specialised crime units such as the Narcotics Bureau in 2003.”
She said there was a desperate need to establish specialised police units such as the Narcotics Bureau.
She placed the blame for the increase in crime squarely at the door of the government.
“We need effective leadership of our SAPS. National government has failed police officers and citizens alike. Nowhere is this more clear than in the actions of Police Minister Nathi Nhleko who is more preoccupied with exonerating President Zuma in the Nkandla scandal and of National Police Commissioner Riah Phiyega who is now the subject of an inquiry for her conduct contributing to the Marikana massacre. Our SAPS remains politically and operationally rudderless.”
Kohler Barnard cautiously welcomed the fact that the statistics had been compiled with the assistance of Statistics South Africa, but said such statistics would be more credible if they were audited by a body that had no ties to government.
She said South Africans did not deserve to live under siege.
ANA