Cape Town - MPs have been shocked by the sharp increase in serious and violent crimes, with murder up by 22.2% and rape by 13.7%.
They said communities were under siege from criminals who were running the streets.
This prompted chairperson of the portfolio committee on police, Tina Joemat-Pettersson to demand that station commanders from the top five police stations must appear before MPs to explain the high crime rate in their areas.
EFF MP Henry Shembeni said the communities were surrounded by criminals.
Joemat-Pettersson said the situation was unacceptable and they needed to take a firm stance against crime.
In the statistics from January to March this year there were more than 6 000 murders in the country. More than 10 000 women were raped during the same period.
Joemat-Pettersson said the situation did not look good.
“Some of the commanders of the top five police stations have to come to the committee and explain their high crime rates. My main concern is that the top three murder statistics are in KwaZulu-Natal. The top five police stations where rape cases are reported are located in rural areas. Why is this so? How many of these result in conviction,” asked Joemat-Pettersson.
She said reducing crime must be the priority of the committee.
Shembeni said he was satisfied that when the meeting started Police Minister Bheki Cele admitted that the statistics did not look good.
Shembeni said they were disturbed that murder and rape cases were on the increase.
He said they were also disturbed by the increase in the killing of women and children.
“But it seems as if we are failing and the criminals are winning. We are not winning the fight anymore. The criminals are around us,” said Shembeni.
Andrew Whitfield of the DA said they have been shocked by the increase in crime over the first three months of the year.
He said the fact that more than 6 000 people were killed in three months showed criminals were in charge of the streets.
He said the same can be said with rapes, as women faced criminals daily.
He said despite promises by government to crack down on crime, there were no results to show for it.
Political Bureau