Cape Town - Political parties in Gauteng have urged the police to deal harshly with cash-in-transit robbers and to root out criminal police in their employ.
The ANC, DA and Freedom Front Plus made the call after the police this week killed eight cash-in-transit robbers and arrested 10 more during a bloody gunbattle in Rosettenville, south of Joburg.
The political parties were alarmed when Gauteng police commissioner Lieutenant-General Elias Mawela revealed that they recovered police issued uniforms, assault rifles and ammunition when they pounced on the robbers.
The ANC’s Sizakele Nkosi-Malobane, the DA’s Michael Schackleton and Kobus Hoffman of the Freedom Front Plus called on the police to deal harshly with rogue police.
Mawela was briefing the Gauteng provincial legislature portfolio committee on safety about the third quarter crime statistics which covered the period from October until December last year.
He said although the province recorded a significant decrease in this category by 4.5%, which translates to 2 181 cases lower in comparison with the same period in 2020/2021.
“We are deeply worried about other serious crimes that fall under this category such as murder, attempted murder as well as robbery with aggravating circumstances, as they all remain stubbornly high.
“During the period under review, 243 more people were killed in Gauteng, which reflects an increase by 18.3%.
“This is the highest increase in the last five year.
“Gauteng is the second province with the highest number of cases of murder during the period under review and this is mainly due to the size of the population.
“However, when we look at other provinces’ murder rate to ensure a fair comparison among them as expressed in the number of people killed per 100 000 of the population, Gauteng’s murder rate is at 10.3 per 100 000 population which is lower than the other three provinces.
“Out of 1 570 of the people who were killed, 189 were women while 37 of them were children.
“Furthermore, a total of 41 cases of murders registered during the same period were related to domestic violence, where the majority of victims were females (23) and males (18),” Mawela said.
He said from the sample of 1 280 cases, the top three contributors established of the general increase of murder were arguments and misunderstandings (not related to domestic) by 112 cases, followed by robberies (house, business and street) by 50 cases and vigilantism by 29 cases.
“In relation to murders at farms/small holdings, we had three incidents where two of the victims were residents on the farm/small holding and one was a farmworker.”
A total of five SAPS officers were murdered during that time.
In relation to places of occurrence, where these incidents happened, it was determined that the top three common places where these murders are likely to take place are:
• In public places like on the streets, open fields, parking areas and abandoned buildings (564).
• 309 murders occurred at the residence of the victim or the perpetrator.
• Liquor outlets (70)
“Among many other factors that contributed to murder increases in Gauteng, is this phenomenon of multiple murders.
“This is where there is more than one victim murdered in one incident.
“Gauteng had 18 dockets of murder registered with 50 victims and that has contributed to more accumulated counts of murder during this quarter.
“Examples of the incidents of multiple murders that occurred during the quarter under review happened in Kagiso and Laudium.
“In Kagiso, seven people were killed and five injured by a group of armed balaclava-clad men.
“This incident happened at a house close to where there was a wedding; consequently, people who also attended the wedding were also affected.
“In Laudium, investigations revealed that a vehicle stopped near an illegal shebeen.
“The occupants then randomly shot at the patrons and this resulted in the murder of five people and 12 were injured.
“The motives for these shootings are still under investigation.
“Based on these two crime scenarios, a total of 12 counts of murder and additional 17 counts of attempted murder were registered,” Mawela said
He said there was a drastic drop in the number of sexual offences cases.
Political Bureau