Violent crime: SA turns the corner
21 September 2004
South Africa recorded a decrease in most types of violent and property-related crime in the past year as the police gained the upper hand in the fight against crime, National Police Commissioner Jackie Selebi said on Monday.
Rape remained a serious problem in the country, however, while aggravated robbery, drug-related crime and illegal possession of firearms showed an increase.
Selebi was speaking at the release of the South African Police Service's annual report, including its 2003-04 crime statistics, collected from the country's 1 136 police stations between April 2003 and March 2004.
Murder at its lowest in 10 years
Murder dropped by 9.9% compared to the 2002-03 financial year, attempted murder by 17.8%, assault with intent to do grievous bodily harm by 4.3%, common assault by 2.6%, Selebi told reporters in Pretoria.
Throwing light on SA crime reality - SA's second national victim survey supports claims about stabilising crime levels, revealing a 2% drop-off in the last five years. The study also confirms that the most prevalent crimes are non-violent - but finds a sharp disparity between the reality and the public's perception of crime.
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This was the first time in 10 years that the number of murders in a year in South Africa dropped to below 20 000. There were 19 824 cases reported in 2003-04, translating to 42.7 per 100 000 of the population. This compares to 21 553 cases (47.4 per 100 000) in 2002-03, and 25 965 (66.9 per 100 000) in
1994-95, the year South Africa became a democracy.
However, robbery with aggravating circumstances - ie with the use of a weapon - showed a 3.2% increase in 2003-04. According to ThisDay, Selebi attributed this trend largely to street robberies and muggings, while the Institute for Security Studies blamed it on the proliferation of cellphones - by far South Africa's most-stolen personal item.
Not all types of aggravated robbery were up in 2003-04 - carjacking dropped by 8% and hijacking of trucks by 10.5%, while robbery of cash in transit decreased by 49.7% and bank robbery by 58.3%.
Reported rape cases decreased by 1.4% compared to 2002-03, a figure described by Selebi as too marginal to indicate a success.
Eight of South Africa's nine provinces recorded a decrease in their murder rate for the year, with the Western Cape showing a 24.7% drop. The Eastern Cape recorded a slight increase.
Property-related crime down
Property-related crime was also on the decrease, Selebi said, with housebreaking in residential areas down by 8.3%, break-ins at business premises down by 14.3%, motor vehicle theft down by 7.3%, theft of goods from vehicles down by 14%, and stock theft down by 13.4%.
Crimes that recorded an increase included drug-related crimes (up by 14.2%), illegal possession of firearms (4.2%), drunk driving (10.1%), and shoplifting (2.1%).
Selebi told reporters that by March 2007 the SAPS will have grown to 156 760 employees, up by 31.1% from 119 560 employees in March 2002. This growth, he said, would be "complemented by the necessary expansion of the department's vehicle fleet, equipment supplies and IT infrastructure".
During 2003-04, 9 521 student constables completed basic training.
Commenting on the year's crime statistics, Safety and Security Minister Charles Nqakula
said the police were doing "tremendous work", but added: "There is no acceptable level of crime. Crime is crime and we need to fight it."
The full statistics are available - by category of crime, as well as by province - on the SAPS crime statistics web page.
SouthAfrica.info reporter
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