Crime stats: Minister Cele is losing the war on crime and should lose his job for it
17 February 2023
ActionSA is extremely concerned after the release of the recent crime statistics that paints a picture that the South African Police Service (SAPS) has completely lost control of the war against crime in this country despite protestations by the minister to the contrary.
Despite Police Minister Bheki Cele’s populist rhetoric, the crime statistics for the period of October to December 2022 show that his leadership has been unable to change the worsening trajectory of crime in South Africa.
It is concerning that there has been an increase in crime on all levels, particularly with a 10.1% increase in murders and a 9.8% increase in instances of rape - showing to an extent the safety of South Africans is compromised.
The only decrease reported was in sexual offences: taking into account the inability of SAPS to provide a safe environment for victims of sexual abuse, this decrease only proves that fewer sexual offences were reported, not that the number of sexual offences decreased.
Furthermore, Minister Cele’s remarks that more police will resolve South Africa’s high crime rate once again illustrates that the ANC fundamentally misunderstands the root causes of crime.
While improved policing is important, it will be fruitless without comprehensive action to address the socio-economic causes of crime such as inequality, unemployment, and poverty.
For too long Minister Cele and his ANC counterparts have cultivated a culture of lawlessness in South Africa, purposefully decapacitating our prosecution and security services to make it easier for them to conduct their own criminal operations. Every day South Africans are now bearing the consequences of the ANC’s actions.
ActionSA, a party with rule of law as one of our key values, believes that it is essential to reform our policing system to improve its operations, and to address the underlying causes of crime in our communities.
The fact is that we have a quasi-Police Minister who spends more time courting the media at high-profile crime scenes in aid of his personal celebrity status than he does providing the requisite political leadership to reform SAPS and turn the tide against crime.
How can we expect ordinary South Africans to observe the Rule of Law while we have a President who is, himself, facing probes over his allegedly unlawful conduct? This is with specific reference to assault, kidnapping and financial crimes related to the Phala Phala debacle. A President of a criminal syndicate masquerading as a political party, who remained silent while serving alongside the architect of State Capture, former President Zuma.
What hope did we have to turn the tide against crime, when crime is practised with reckless abandon at the very top?
Given the perpetual rise of crime and violence in South Africa under successive ANC governments, the solution is undoubtedly the unseating of the ANC and their replacement with a caring government that is committed to restoring law and order so that South Africans can begin to feel safe and not under siege in their own country, and in their own homes. We cannot expect ordinary South Africans to refrain from criminal behaviour when being a criminal seems to be a minimum requirement for becoming a leader in the ANC.
Issued by Herman Mashaba, President, ActionSA, 17 February 2023
