POLL | Crime stats: Is SA becoming ‘a gangster state’?

The latest crime statistics have left many shocked and some fearing the country has become a “gangster state”.

Police minister Bheki Cele this week announced the quarterly statistics for crimes recorded between January and March this year.

Among the shocking revelations was that more than 10,500 rape cases were opened during the first three months of the year, or about 116 cases a day.

Close to 70 people were murdered each day during the period, most victims of arguments, vigilantism and robberies.

The highest number of murders were recorded in KwaZulu-Natal (1,589), followed by Gauteng (1,556) and Eastern Cape (1,112).

The minister said R65m had been allocated to the top 30 crime-heavy police stations to address murder and other contact crimes.

Reacting to the statistics, ActionSA leader Herman Mashaba said South Africa was becoming a “gangster state”.

While many agreed, saying crime seems to be out of control, others said government and officials were working hard to win the war against criminals.

In response to the statistics, DA KwaZulu-Natal's Sharon Hoosen said the department of community safety and liaison should provide:

• a detailed plan about the R160m allocated to fighting crime earlier this year;
• a breakdown of the R65m allocated to safety promotion. This includes the volunteer social crime prevention project, a performance indicator for community-focused interventions and community training programmes;
• an update on the R17m for monitoring to ensure the effectiveness of community safety structures; and 
• details about the R3m allocated to community police relations.

Speaking ahead of the release, Cele said the decision to upscale visible policing was working.

“More boots on the ground are pushing back on criminality through provincial intelligence-led operations to take down individuals and criminal syndicates hell-bent on terrorising communities. These criminal lockdowns have been adopted by all provincial commissioners and are guided by crime intelligence and crime trends and analysis. 

“This aggressive form of policing is adapted from the Gauteng-based Operation O kae Molao, which has been ongoing for five years. This follows the need for the police service to upscale its responses to crime, lock down and squeeze the space for criminals.” 

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