EFF statement on Statistics SA report on Governance, Public Safety and Justice Survey for 2023/24
28 August 2024
The Economic Freedom Fighters (EFF) notes the publication of the Governance, Public Safety and Justice Survey for the 2023/2024 financial year by Statistics South Africa (Stats SA). The findings are simply horrifying and confirm the general feeling in society that the state has been completely overrun by criminals, and has now neither the capacity nor willingness to protect citizens from the ravages of crime.
The survey highlights that for the period under review, there were over 1.5 million incidences of housebreaking in the country, and that I .1 million houses were affected by this insidious criminal activity. Linked to that, the report also mentions that there are about 263 000 cases of home robberies, affecting about 208 000 households in the country. Of concern to us is the fact that South African households seem to have completely lost confidence in the police. Only 44% of households that experienced house breaking reported these incidences to the police, while only 58% of households that experienced home robberies reported these crimes to the police.
Over the years of our participation in Parliament, we have consistently raised the fact that crime is grossly underreported in this country, and that specifically, the cases of rape and sexual assault that get reported are only a drop in the ocean. South Africa is a massive crime scene, and our citizens have no state to turn to.
The Stats SA report also indicates that there were 1.4 million incidences of theft of personal property, and that 443 000 individuals experienced street robbery during the period under review. There were over 506 000 incidences of assault, affecting over 200 000 individuals, meaning that some of these assault cases were repeated on same individuals. South Africans are simply overwhelmed by crime, and it is unsurprising that the vast majority of the citizens. particularly women, feel very unsafe walking at night.
Criminals have taken the war to households, and households are helpless victims of criminal elements in society. The ultimate victims of these crimes are women and children, and they have no one else to turn to. Without a strong, purposeful policing, the entire country will be run down by criminals. The proliferation of the phenomenon of extortion rackets under the guise of a "protection fee", and harassing small and informal businesses in townships and villages is one of the most concerning indicators of just how deep in the pit our state of policing has fallen.
The EFF calls for a complete overhaul of the South African policing system, and such overhaul must include the reconfiguration and strengthening of crime intelligence, the employment of more police, regular street patrols in hotspot areas, increased capacity for detective work, and seamless and competent prosecuting of these cases.
However, underlying all of this is the fact that South Africa is an unsustainably unequal society, and that our failure to deal with landlessness, unemployment, poor quality education, and all other social ills will ultimately make no one safe in this country.
Issued by Leigh-Ann Mathys, National Spokesperson, 28 August 2024
