We've got 2010 covered: SA police
Thapelo Sakoana
4 July 2007South Africa's national police commissioner, chief Jackie Selebi, says he's losing no sleep over the possible effects of crime on the 2010 Fifa World Cup.
Speaking to journalists in Pretoria on Tuesday, at the unveiling of the South African Police Service's crime statistics for 2006/07, Selebi said that while crime remained a serious challenge for the country, the type of crimes that dominated the police statistics were, of their nature and location, unlikely to affect foreign holidaymakers - or soccer fans - visiting the country.
According to police and independent analysis, Selebi said, at least two-thirds of all violent crimes in the country were "social crimes" - crimes that took place among people who knew one another, usually within the confines of the same social environment, and in many cases triggered by alcohol and substance abuse.
This was supported by the fact that "contact crimes" in South Africa tended to occur mainly over weekends, peaking over the December/January holiday period and dipping to their lowest point in the mid-winter months, when the World Cup would be taking place.
Poorer areas most affected
The statistics also showed that most contact crimes in South Africa took place in the country's townships - not in the hotels, stadiums and tourist spots where most visitors would spend their time in 2010.
"Contact crimes" cover the police categories of murder, attempted murder, rape, assault with intent to do serious bodily harm, common assault, indecent assault, aggravated robbery - including street muggings, car hijackings, house break-ins and bank robberies - and common robbery.
According to the latest official figures, there were decreases in most of these categories of crime in South Africa in 2006/07 - but increases in murders and aggravated robberies.
"The statistics are not saying crime is taking place in Loftus Versveld, nor do they say at Ellis Park nor Green Point in Cape Town, they say Khayelitsha," Selebi said.
He said the police knew how many people were expected in the country for the 2010 World Cup, where they would sleep, the routes they would travel on and the places they were likely to visit.
No South African policeman or women would be taking leave in June 2010, Selebi added - there would, on the contrary, be additional police officers and reservists on the job.
The bigger picture
At the same time, Selebi stressed, the police aimed to make South Africa safe for all of its people, all of the time - and the statistics gave them basis for responding to crime tendencies when they emerged.
Thus, the police would be channeling more resources to areas identified as needing them. Since February, 400 additional SAPS members had been moved to Gauteng and 370 to KwaZulu-Natal. Together with the Western Cape, these provinces accounted for about 62% of serious crimes in 2006/07.
This applied not only to broader areas, but also to specific locations across the country. Selebi noted that there were high levels of crime in newer residential areas, such as the Garsfontein suburb of Pretoria.
"There are higher levels of crime in Garsfontein than you would have in Attridgeville," the commissioner said. "This is because there is no social cohesion there, and people don't know each other because everybody is new."
As for crime migrating from one area to another as law enforcement develops in "hotspots", the SAPS has this covered, according to Deputy National Commissioner Andre Pruis.
SA's police stations are now collaborating in clusters to share information and resources, making it unviable for criminals to simply migrate from one area to another, Pruis said.
Source: BuaNews
