014/2015 CRIME STATISTICS
The Office of the ANC Chief Whip notes the 2014/2015 crime statistics presented by the police minister and the national police commissioner at the parliamentary portfolio committee on police today. This is the first time since 1994 that the annual crime statistics are presented before the parliamentary committee, which augurs well for the enhanced culture of accountability, transparency and openness by state institutions. It Is indeed a step in the right direction regarding the reaffirmation of Parliament as a true representative of the people of South Africa, and a forum where announcements on such matters of national importance ought to be made.
The statistics presented today illustrate that while we continue to make significant progress in our crime fighting efforts, crime remains a serious challenge that requires joint efforts by all stakeholders to tackle and eradicate. It is for this reason that crime fighting remains one of the ANC government's apex priorities during this term of government.
Crime dehumanizes, robs dependents of breadwinners and makes our streets unsafe for our children. It is for this reason that we welcome the continuous efforts by our men and women in blue to reclaim our streets from criminals by ensuring that not only are our people protected from criminals but also do indeed feel safe in their homes. We are pleased by the decrease in property related crimes and other serious crimes. Property related crime, which experts and researchers have cited as the most feared type of crime, has decreased by 0.8% while other serious crimes - such as fraud, commercial crimes and theft - have decreased by 2.2%. This year has also seen a welcome decrease in the commission of crimes against children, with the percentage of cases reported declining by 51.31% compared to the previous year.
The crime statistics also show that our police service remains highly responsive to crimes reported by communities, with almost 84 percent of reported serious crimes leading to the arrest and charging of more than 1,7 million people.
However despite all these significant and commendable achievements, we remain concerned by a slight increase in contact crimes and contact related crimes such as murder, attempted murder and arson which have marginally rose by 0.9%. These stubborn forms of crime require concerted multipronged interventions, which must include joint efforts by all stakeholders, to radically turn the situation around. Despite the destruction of millions of illegal guns by the police, which contributed to 1.6% decrease in illegal gun circulation, there are still many guns in wrong hands which requires serious attention. Violent attacks against our people, including killings of police officers, must be fought fiercely and aggressively as part of our endeavors to build safer communities. Perpetrators of such monstrous crimes must be squeezed completely out of our society.
We commend the thousands of members of our police service, who despite great challenges and risks associate with policing, continue to serve with commitment to protect our people.
We reaffirm our confidence in the quality and credibility of these statistics, which have been verified by Statistics SA - a reputable public institution - which has assessed the crime statistics against their standards on methodology, accuracy and comparability and coherence amongst their criteria. These statistics are important to our government's ongoing improvement of its crime-fighting strategies and programmes.
Issued by Moloto Mothapo on behalf of the Office of ANC Chief Whip Stone Sizani, 29 September 2015
