Police killings are soaring

A policeman has been killed on average every 10 days over the past two months.

Announcing the statistics, national police commissioner General Riah Phiyega yesterday called on everyone to unite in the fight against crime.

Speaking at the Gauteng police headquarters in Johannesburg, Phiyega, who is on a tour of all the provinces, slammed the killings.

"This cannibalisation of our police force has to come to a stop. It cannot be allowed to continue."

Gauteng accounted for half of South Africa's violent crimes, Phiyega said.

She said she would visit the police headquarters in every province to find out what resources - from manpower, to finances, to equipment - were needed to win the war on crime.

"The issues of crime, while similar in a lot of provinces, also differ from region to region," she said.

She called Gauteng the nation's "crime capital".

"At least half of the crime in the province is violent crime, which we are desperately trying to address," she said.

Provincial police commissioner Lieutenant-General Mzwandile Petros said a research project was under way to determine the causes of crime in the province.

He said hijackings had decreased from 25 a day to 16 a day.

"With the research, we will be able to hone our strategies to continue to reduce crime," he said.