The release of the KwaZulu-Natal (KZN) crime statistics for the third Quarter of 2021 – October to December – shows more of the same as priority crimes including violent crime continue to feature in the red zone.
The figures, presented by Police Minister Bheki Cele late last week also reveal that;
KZN remains the murder capital of the country with a 17% – or 245 case – increase from the same period during 2020. This while the Inanda and Umlazi SAPS stations are ranked first and third respectively in crimes of this nature country-wide.
Attempted murder also went up by 15.1 % – a 190 case increase – from the same period in 2020, with the current number of cases sitting at a staggering 1 449 for the three-month period and;
Robbery with aggravating circumstances rose 5.2% – 304 cases – from the third quarter of 2020 to reach 6 188 cases.
These figures do not come as any surprise. Anyone living in our province already knows that crime is rife.
The question the DA expects answers to is: What are Police Minister Bheki Cele and KZN’s Community Safety MEC, Peggy Nkonyeni, doing about it?
It is clear that the quarterly spitting out of crime statistics by the Minister – with the usual political spin – is an exercise in futility.
What we need is crime figures with solid solutions that will hold both him, the MEC and her Department to account.
What we need are crime stats that include conviction rate reports so that there is a clear message that crime does not pay.
While the DA notes and welcomes the slight decrease in some areas of crime, we hope that this is an accurate reflection of what is happening on the ground and not due to under-reporting.
Sadly, KZN’s people have become desensitised to crime. They also know that if someone does the crime, they probably won’t do the time.
Public confidence in SAPS is also at an all-time low, particularly after the July 2021 insurrection. Months later, the people of KZN are still waiting to be told whether those behind the anarchy and looting will be arrested.
According to the recently released report into the July riots, it is not a matter of ‘if’ this will happen again but rather a question of ‘when’.
This while recent oversight inspections by KZN MPLs of police stations in the province has revealed a dismal picture with SAPS members forced to work in crumbling infrastructure, while battling with insufficient vehicles and not being properly trained.
The question is: How are these men and women supposed to be protecting our citizens?
The DA expects the Minister and his MEC to prioritise the capacitation of our SAPS members. Without the necessary tools of trade, KZN will never win the war against crime and any grand plans to protect the people are doomed to fail.
