Johannesburg - Politicians are one of the biggest problems when it comes to the empowerment of police and intelligence; hence, organised crime thrives in a disorganised state.
According to a survey, South Africans don’t feel safe. There have been a number of mass shootings, gang and drug-related crimes, gas inhalation and blasts due to zama-zamas (illegal miners).
Only 31% of South Africans feel either “mostly safe” or “completely safe” in the country, 37% feel either “barely safe” (22%) or “not safe at all” (15%).
Most South Africans (32%) feel somewhat safe living in the country; this is one of the findings of the Automobile Association’s (AA) 2023 Quarter 4 State of Security Report (SoS Report) released in May.
According to the statistics, 76% of all respondents reported being victims of a crime in South Africa.
In addition to reviewing current official crime statistics released by the government, researchers of the SoS Report also conducted a wide-ranging survey with 1 438 respondents to determine direct feedback on personal security in South Africa.
The study was conducted in March and April.
According to Police Minister Bheki Cele’s Quarter 4 crime stats, murder increased countrywide by 3.4% between January and March. Between January and March of this year, about 6 289 people were killed with a firearm, knife, sharp and blunt instruments, stone, or even bare hands.
Institute for Security Studies (ISS) head of the Justice and Violence Prevention Programme, Gareth Newham, said until South Africa sees the government take the issue of public safety seriously by putting in place very clear, specific plans to improve policing, fix intelligence, strengthen the National Prosecuting Authority (NPA) and the Hawks, and ensure that the investigative directorate of the NPA is independent, as promised by the president, the country was unlikely to see any improvement in public safety.
“The SAPS has been deteriorating substantially for more than a decade now. Its ability to solve murders started to drop in 2012 and continued until last year. It has dropped by 55%, so it is less than half as likely to solve a murder last year than it was 10 years ago. Despite its budget being 86% larger than it was 10 years ago, most of this decline has taken place in the past five years. But there has been absolutely no plan in place, driven by the minister and the president, to ensure that the R108 billion they spend annually on the police at the moment is effectively used to improve safety. There is no clear focus on organised crime. The police simply do not want to engage with organised crime, so they do not provide protection to legal businesses in the transport sector, mining, or construction, who are battling a wave of organised crime across the country,” said Newham.
He said it had been reported that some of this was politically connected, which might explain why the governing party is simply not interested in fixing the state’s capacity to deal with organised crime.
“Because we have the experience, the resources, and the men and women in all our agencies who could do it, but we do not have the political will to do it. So that is the reason police can’t mobilise the 180 000 personnel, a massive budget, and the huge crime intelligence capability to get on top of the known kingpins of organised crime across various sectors in South Africa. And we now know that it is politically linked. And there are many reports of how people involved in organised crime are funding the lifestyles and campaigns of politicians at the local, provincial and national levels. It has become embedded in our politics. And that is probably the single biggest reason why we do not see the kind of gains made despite the massive resources, expertise and willingness among ordinary South Africans to improve safety in this country,” he said.
IRS Forensic Investigative CEO Chad Thomas said South Africa was in the eye of a perfect storm.
“Zama-zamas are in control of the illicit mining trade and don’t care what they blast or who they kill; they just want the gold. We see vanity projects such as the Gauteng Security Warden project, which cost in the region of R500 million. Half-a-billion rand equates to a quarter of the Hawks budget. That money could have been put to better use if it had been used to train new detectives and upskill existing detectives.
“More boots on the ground doesn’t equate to more prosecutions. Someone has to investigate the cases, and someone has to prosecute the cases. The problem is that there aren’t enough detectives or prosecutors. If the government is serious about combating crime and ensuring we don’t slide into failed state status, then they have to budget accordingly and ensure funds are utilised correctly,” Thomas said.
The Star