Johannesburg - Gauteng and the Western Cape are becoming increasingly violent with a large spike in the number of murder cases across the provinces, and significant increases in attempted murders, armed robberies and carjacking.
The SA Police Service’s annual crime statistics for April 2013 to March 2014 were released on Friday morning, painting a grim picture that revealed a large increase in contact crimes in both provinces, significantly contributing to the 0.5 percent increase in the number of contact crime cases opened across the country.
Nationally, the number of contact crimes went up from 617 239 in 2012/13 to 620 366 this year.
This year’s statistics are for April 2013 to March 2014.
But the one shining ray of hope in this year’s statistics is that sexual offences have seen a sharp decrease across the board.
From the numbers alone, the number of murders in Gauteng jumped from 2 997 to 3 333 year on year, showing an 11.2 percent increase. However, using the ratio system of crimes per 100 000 people, the increase still sits at 9.2 percent.
Gauteng’s attempted murders have gone up by 8.1 percent based on the number of cases opened – 3 609 to 3 901 – while in terms of the ratio, the increase is 5.5 percent.
The number of Gauteng robberies with aggravating circumstances (mostly armed robberies) has leaped up by 18.9 percent from 35 869 to 42 646. Through the ratio calculations, the shocking increase is still 16.4 percent.
However, the SAPS focus on reducing sexual offences cases seems to have paid off in Gauteng with the total number of sexual offences cases dropping from 12 288 to 11 021 year-on-year. This marks a 10.3 percent decrease in sexual crimes (which includes rapes), while based on ratio calculations, it’s a decrease of 12.2 percent.
Gauteng carjackings leaped up 22.5 percentage, jumping up by more than 1 100 cases (from 4 952 to 6 064) over the past year.
Gauteng bank robberies jumped from one incident to 11 year on year.
While the number of Gauteng drug-related cases arrests jumped up by a whopping 95.8 percent this year, this may be good news as it indicates a police crackdown on illegal drugs. This means the number of drug-related cases almost doubled, from 38 159 to 74 713.
There was also a big Gauteng crackdown on driving under the influence of alcohol or drugs, with a 19.8 percent increase in cases, from 21 778 to 26 100.
Gauteng stats clearly influenced the national totals, which exhibit similar increases and drops in these categories.
Murder cases opened saw a 5 percent increase countrywide, from 16 259 to 17 068 murders, while the ratio of these crimes per 100 000 people indicated a 3.5 percent increase.
Nationally sexual offences dropped by 5.6 percent in terms of raw case numbers – from 66 387 to 62 649 - and showed a ratio decrease of 6.9 percent.
Nationally, robberies with aggravating circumstances saw a similar spike of 12.7 percent increase by sheer police caseload, with a ratio increase of 11.2 percent.
The number of carjackings rose by 12.3 percent across the country, with drug-related crimes also jumping up by 26.1 percent.
Nationally, bank robberies jumped from seven to 21 incidents.
Assault with the intent to inflict grievous bodily harm saw a minor decrease of about 1.5 percent, and common assault also dropped by 3.3 percent.
Another apparent success for the SAPS was the 13.6 percent decrease in commercial crime cases countrywide, with a drop of 9.9 percent in Gauteng.
In his address given during Friday morning’s release of the crime statistics, Police Minister Nkosinathi Nhleko told journalists that even though the overall number of contact crimes had increased this year, the 5 and 10-year trends still showed a marked decrease.
He added that despite the overall decrease, South Africa’s social outlook is dominated by the permanent features of contact crime. High levels of violence and aggression were still prevalent in our society, and individuals also had to mediate this culture of violence among ourselves.
He noted that another concern for the police was the increase in social unrest, and that this suggests that there needs to be a broader, macro-solution to combat such dissatisfaction.
However, he warned that even with the significant drop of sexual offences over the past year, the scourge must still be a top priority to ensure the eradication of such violence. He was optimistic, however, that the drop in sexual violence incidents meant that South Africans were slowly achieving a higher level of social consciousness.
THE NUMBERS
Sexual offences down by 5.6%
Murder up by 5%
Attempted murder up 4.6%
Assault GbH down 1.5%
Robbery with aggravating circumstances up 12.7%
Theft out of cars up 3%
Burglary at residential 0.04%
The Star