MEC for Transport and Community Safety, Xolile Nqatha, led a team of dignitaries, who attended the Crime Statistics and Stakeholders Engagement Session that was held at Premier Hotel ICC in East London, last week.
Nqatha said they had noted the general decline of 3.7% in contact crimes, but murder remained one of the major challenges they were faced with within the province. “The 13% decrease in rape is something that we cautiously welcome. Our greatest triumph will be when not a single person is raped,” said Nqatha.
The Provincial Commissioner Lieutenant General, Nomthetheleli Mene, presented a turnaround strategy, which is expected to bring relief to the crime-stricken communities.
“As SAPS management, we are concerned about the rate at which our communities kill one another. We may be seeing a decrease in the sexual offences category, but incidents of gender-based violence (GBV) are still rampant out there. She said property crimes and robbery committed had proven to be stubborn, despite relentless efforts to prevent them,” said Mene.
Mene added that even though towns such as Lusikisiki, which is ranked second in the list of top 30 police stations nationally on rape and sexual offences, for the same period, detectives from family violence, child protection and sexual offences (FCS) had only arrested 32 suspects in Lusikisiki on rape and sexual offence charges.
“For the same period, in Lusikisiki, 12 accused persons were convicted and sentenced with two life imprisonment sentences.” She said for the same period, a total of 15 931 persons were arrested in the province for various crimes, and 357 unlicensed firearms were recovered with 163 people arrested for possession of unlicensed rounds of ammunition. Mene added that police had confiscated 434.2kg of drugs.
“Several shebeens were closed, with over 26 791 litres of liquor confiscated. A total of 1 004 suspects were arrested for possession of stolen livestock and 271 stolen vehicles were recovered and suspects were arrested.”
The Deputy Provincial Commissioner of Policing, Major General Thandiswa Kupiso, during her presentation, noted several risk factors that were posing a challenge:
- Service delivery protests
- Sporadic gang violence
- Conflict in the transport sector (taxis)
- Liquor compliance in terms of the Provincial Liquor Act
- Crime displacement due to increased intensified policing actions.
“Citizens will form part of the plan, where they are expected to support police initiatives such as reporting of criminal activities, such as illegal firearms on 040 608 7562 or 040 608 7524. These lines are operating 24 hours a day, and seven days a week,” said Kupiso.
