Gang violence gives Western Cape government and police commissioner sleepless nights

Shoplifting cases have spiked by 15.3% and kidnapping increased by 3%, according to the latest quarterly crime statistics for the Western Cape.

The province has seen a slight decrease in murders but robberies with aggravating circumstances have worsened. 

Provincial police commissioner Maj-Gen Tembekile Phathekile presented crime statistics for the first quarter of the 2023/2024 financial year on Wednesday. Premier Alan Winde and police oversight MEC Reagan Allen attended the briefing.

The numbers revealed a decrease in contact crimes such as murder, sexual offences and attempted murder compared to the previous quarter. 

Murder decreased by 5.5%, sexual offences by 8.6%, attempted murders by 6.7%, intentional grievous bodily harm by 2.3% and common assault by 0.7%.

In contrast, the number of common robbery offences increased by 1.9% and robbery offences with aggravating circumstances by 4.6%.

There was also a slight decrease in sexual offences. For example, rape decreased by 10.1% and sexual assault by 10.2%. Attempted sexual offences increased by 3.8% and sexual offences related to other offences increased by 31.4%.

The statistics showed that car thefts decreased by 0.7%, residential robberies decreased by 5.6% and non-residential robberies decreased by 22.7%.

No bank robberies were recorded in the province during the quarter under review. Cash-in-transit robbery decreased by 33.3%, and truck hijacking decreased by 50%. 

The province also recorded a 24.5% drop in arson cases and a 3.7% drop in malicious damage to property cases. 

The theft of motor vehicles and motorcycles increased by 13.9% and theft out of motor vehicles increased by 3.8%. Stock theft increased by 8.0%.

Gang-related violence contributed to 0.2% of the murders, while arguments, misunderstandings, road rage and provocation contributed to a whopping 65.2% of the murders. Vigilantism and mob justice contributed to 2.4%, with robbery accounting for 1.8% of the recorded murders and taxi violence contributing 0.1%. No murders were recorded during hijackings and attempted hijackings.

According to the statistics, 33.8% of murders, attempted murders and assaults with intent to cause grievous bodily harm happened in public places like the streets, open fields, beaches and parks. A staggering 39.2% of these cases happened at the residences of the perpetrators and victims. The numbers revealed 2.7% of these cases happened at liquor outlets such as shebeens and bottle stores, 2.8% of them happened on farms, while 0.2% happened in prisons and holding cells.

Phathekile said the statistics reflected inroads police had made in the fight against crime and indicated areas where police needed to do more. He said SAPS was using the City of Cape Town’s shot spotter acoustic technology and CCTV cameras to solve crime in gang-infested areas. He said whenever police arrested gang leaders, there was a flare-up of violence.

“There are new (leaders) who take up the space. It appears that a vacuum is not allowed in those spaces,” said Phathekile. 

He said the province experienced inter-gang and intra-gang violence. Phathekile said inter-gang violence entailed fights over turf while intra-gang violence involved fights over leadership.

“You can see by the killing of children that young boys are joining gangs and fighting older gangs,” he said. 

He added there needed to be a strategy to divert youngsters away from gang activity.

“We have seen a number of school dropouts in the areas that are a breeding ground for gangs,” he said. “If that can be taken care of, for example, we have Technical Vocational Education & Training (TVET) colleges where we can get skills for those children so they can be independent.” 

He said police were going to target drug dens and bring in the Asset Forfeiture Unit to seize those properties. Phathekile said the province will get an additional 2,300 police from a cohort undergoing training. He also urged people to use a police toll-free number to report extortion. 

“We have seen a decline in the reporting of extortion cases,” he said. “It is anonymous but we will take the initiative and look at what you are telling us — all extortion be it in construction, taxis or spaza shops, anywhere. We are determined to get to the bottom of it. We want to see who is behind it. Many arrests have been made but ... we want the mastermind behind it.” 

He said the toll-free number had been useful in solving kidnapping cases.

Phathekile  said police were tackling kidnapping and ransom cases in co-operation with and assistance from the City of Cape Town and other role players to track and retrieve victims.

“We want to continue with that to reduce or have no kidnappings in this province.” 

The statistics show that between April and June, six people were shot and killed inside a house in a gang-related incident in Ocean View. Five people died on the scene and one in hospital.

In Constantia, four people were killed during a hit or assassination. Two police officers were also killed during this period — one was shot inside his vehicle while he was in the company of friends and the other was shot inside his house.

Eight cases of rape were recorded on education premises during the quarter under review. Three happened at daycare centres and five at schools.

Allen said the police anti-gang unit should be capacitated to end gang violence. He said his department also had a hotline for people to report extortion and illegal firearms.

Winde said the statistics indicated that crime was a big issue in the province “specifically in the inner-city of Cape Town and it links not only to gangs, drugs, murders and shootings, it has links to extortion ... and is a big concern”.

“Allegations are made of infiltrations into policing spaces by gangs. We need to find ways to drill in and go and deal with it,” he added.

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