ANC STATEMENT ON THE CRIME STATISTICS RELEASED
The African National Congress welcomes the release of the 2012/13 South African Police Service national crime statistics in Tshwane today. We note with appreciation that the government has in line with our delivery priorities, continued to invest in personnel, police vehicles and in police stations to ensure responsiveness and continued contact with communities.
We welcome the successes that have been registered in arrests of people involved in serious crime. We believe that the registered increase of convictions and sentences on serious crimes auger well for crime fighting objectives. We are happy that there is recorded decrease of violence against women and children. We believe that the reduction of contact related crimes confirms the effectiveness of the police strategies to keep our communities safe. The decrease in sexual offences including rape must assist in the effort of confronting the scourge of dehumanizing women and children. We are happy that we are gradually winning the fight against robbery at residential, cash-in-transit, bank robberies and bombing of ATM.
We are concerned that the decline in murder is experiencing a reverse trend albeit below 1%. The noticeable increase in attempted murder cases is a cause for concern. The increase of aggravated robbery undermines good work that has been achieved in reducing robberies. Urgency must be given to areas that have been identified as still problematic including; increase in burglary, increase in theft out of motor vehicle, commercial crime, car hijacking, truck hijacking, drug related crimes, drunken driving, violent public protests. We call on all our communities to take a stand on abuses of substances that include liquor and drugs and to exercise restraint in all legal protests and strikes.
We want to applaud the combined effort of the criminal justice cluster for their commitment to fight crime under difficult conditions and threats. We want to single out the role of the business sector particularly the banking sector, business against crime and LeadSA for their continued partnership with the police to fight crime. Any success that has been achieved in fighting crime confirmed a working combination of this necessary partnership. We also acknowledge the role of community policing forums for their role in reporting and keeping our communities safe.
Statement issued by Jackson Mthembu, ANC national spokesperson, September 19 2013
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