EFF statement on crime statistics for the first quarter of the 2022/2024 financial year
19 August 2022
The Economic Freedom Fighters (EFF) notes the recently published statistics of crime for the first quarter of the 2022/23 financial year, which covers the period between April and June this year. These statistics of reported crimes paint a very disheartening picture of the levels of crime in this country, and of the incapacity of the South African Police Service to protect citizens from the rampant and merciless actions of criminals in the country. During this period, 6 424 people were murdered in this country, and we note with concern the geographical spread of this type of crime. While previously the Western Cape and KwaZulu Natal were murder hotspots, the Eastern Cape is now a major hotspot for murders in this country.
We believe there is a strong correlation between the rising numbers of murder cases and the deterioration of policing capacity in the Eastern Cape in particular, even though the situation is not getting better in any of the provinces in the country. We are also deeply concerned that 2766 of these murders were committed using firearms, as this points to the proliferation of illegal firearms in the country, which are then used to commit crimes.
This could not be as prevalent as it now is if the country had capable and functioning crime intelligence services. We also note with grave concern that during this period, there were 9 516 reported cases of rape in this country. As many studies have demonstrated, these reported cases are only a fraction of the actual number of rapes that take place in this country.
Women and children are under siege from entitled men who believe that they can do as they wish to women's bodies. They do this because they know that chances of them getting arrested and prosecuted for this heinous crime are very minute. While in the previous quarter there were over 10 000 reported cases of rape, just 286 rapists were convicted of this crime during the first quarter of this financial year, and only 46 were imprisoned to life.
We have repeatedly bemoaned the fact that the number of rapes is not matched by the number of arrests in this country, least of all, the number of convictions. This means that rapists have free range to rape repeatedly without ever getting caught. With the collapse of key services such as the DNA forensic Laboratory under the stewardship of Minister Cele at SAPS, many of these rapists will never see the inside of jail because of lack of DNA evidence.
It is also horrifying that almost 4 000 of these reported rapes took place inside the homes of the victims. Women are not safe on the streets, and they are not safe at home too, a grave indictment on the kind of society we have become. Any hopes of waging a fight against this type of crime are extinguished by the realization that there is no genuine commitment from the highest office in the land to fight against sexual crimes.
A senior cabinet minister, Mr. Enoch Godongwana stands accused of having sexually violated a woman at a massage parlour, but he is still in his job, unbothered and not charged. The president himself ordered that his female domestic worker accused if being involved in the theft of illicit money at the president's farms be abducted and assaulted, and today, almost 80 days after this crime was reported, the president is still going on as it is business as usual. What hope do ordinary women and children have then, when these powerful men who took an oath to be bound by the Constitution can do as they please.
Lastly, Bheki Cele is woefully out of his depth as the Minister of Police. He does not have the slightest clue of what needs to be done to make SAPS a functional and responsive police service. Under normal circumstances, Cele ought to have been fired a long time ago. We still call on Mr. Ramaphosa to put the nation first and fire this useless minister.
Issued by Sinawo Thambo, National Spokesperson, EFF, 19 August 2022
