2016 crime statistics
2 September 2016
The Office of the ANC Chief Whip welcomes the release of the 2016 crime statistics in Parliament today by the South African Police Service. Annual release of these figures are key to the government's continual endeavour to fight crime and keep communities safer through constant assessment and improvement of its crime-fighting interventions.
The safety of all South Africans is paramount as safety is a core human right, a necessary condition for human development, improves quality of life and enhances productivity. As stressed in the National Development Plan, when communities don't feel safe and live in fear, it affects the people's wellbeing and our country's economic performance. In this regard, the decision by Cabinet in June to release crime stats on quarterly basis will go a long way in strengthening crime-fighting efforts through regularised assessment, reviews and sharpening of strategic interventions.
In this in vein, we commend the great effort by the entire SAPS membership and leadership in their endeavour to keep South Africans safer, rid our streets of criminality and ensure they live their lives free of criminal attacks. Notwithstanding the stubbornness of certain categories of crimes, there is much to appreciate in the picture painted but the statistics relating to the consistent decrease in certain types of crimes in the last 10 years. The men and women in blue ought to be commended for taking the fight to the outlaws, thereby ensuring consistent decrease in categories such as serious crimes, bank robberies and car theft. The decrease in sexual offenses by 8%, although not enough, is an encouraging step in the right direction given the distressing scourge of sexual and gender-based violence in the country. Other positive decreases in the last year include car theft, truck hijacking and stock theft. For this we applaud our men and women in blue for working day and night to push back the frontiers of crime.
We are however gravely concerned by increases in certain crime types, such as murder (4.9%), burglary at residential and non-residential properties and carjacking (3.4%). These are categories of crimes that previous surveys have demonstrated ordinary South Africans fear the most. Such crimes involve grievous bodily harm, loss of life and makes our people to live in fear. We agree with the Minister of Police that, while police are central to the alleviation of acts of criminality in society, such crimes point to social ills and thus require interventions beyond the police. Strengthening cooperative partnerships with communities, reinforcing crime intelligence and constant police visibility remains key to the combating, prevention and investigation of crime. The role of communities in crime-fighting cannot be overemphasized, as hijacked vehicles and items stolen through burglary have an increasing market within our communities. We must never allow a tiny minority in our society to hold the entire nation to ransom.
We are confident that, through these comprehensive statistics, efforts and creative interventions will be intensified and consolidated to escalate the battle against crime. We urge the police and communities to continue working cooperatively to ensure that there is no hiding place for criminals that harass our people and robs them of their peaceful existence and human rights.
Issued by Moloto Mothapo on behalf of the Office of the ANC Chief Whip, 2 September 2016
