Durban - CRIME experts and political parties have described the rate of crime in KwaZulu-Natal as “extremely worrying” despite the latest crime statistics showing a decrease in violent crimes such as murder, rape and hijacking.
The first quarter crime stats, released on Friday, showed that in KZN murders decreased from 1 623 cases to 1 584 in the period from April to June 2023 compared to the same period in 2022.
In the same period, rape decreased from 1 953 cases to 1 879, while hijacking decreased from 913 cases to 835. Robbery with aggravating circumstances decreased from 6 334 to 6 084.
In terms of the stations recording the most cases in the country, Inanda police station continued to record the most rapes and murders nationally.
Police Minister Bheki Cele said that for the first time since Covid-19 in 2020, the murder rate of the country had declined in a single quarter.
“Between April and June this year, police recorded 6 228 counts of murders nationally. This is 196 fewer people killed compared to the same time last year. Apart from Mpumalanga and the Northern Cape, all provinces recorded decreases for murder in this quarter.”
On Saturday, Cele launched Operation Shanela in KZN with national police commissioner General Fannie Masemola and provincial commissioner Lieutenant-General Nhlanhla Mkhwanazi. He has credited the operation, launched elsewhere in May, with helping reduce crime nationally.
“While it is early days, the effectiveness of the high-density operations are showing in the decline of these crime figures. While the declines cannot all be attributable to Operation Shanela, its value and impact on the overall policing strategy is noticeable. Operation Shanela has netted 99 754 suspects for various crimes including murder, rape, assault and other serious charges.
Mary de Haas, KZN violence monitor, said the stats meant very little as they were for only three months.
“They go up and down each quarter. If you want to assess whether there is a noticeable increase or decrease in categories of crime you need a longer period of several years in terms of statistical predictions.
“They (the stats) just confirm what we all know – that violent crime remains much too high and nothing will change until urgent action is taken to deal with the crisis in policing starting with Crime Intelligence.”
Chad Thomas, organised and financial crime investigator from IRS Forensic Investigations, said despite the reduction in reported murders, the crime statistics remained a huge cause of concern.
“Murders among civilians have decreased but still remain massively high compared to other countries on a per capita basis. What is also very alarming is the increase in the murders of police officers. Murders of security officers are also high.”
Professor Nirmala Gopal, a criminologist from the University of KwaZulu-Natal’s College of Humanities, said the decreases noted for murder and rape were welcomed. “However, we want to see more consistent stats for the decrease in all crimes and over various quarters. A consistent decrease should increase citizen confidence in policing which currently is seriously low. The fact that rape is still high, particularly in Inanda, is extremely worrying and somewhat negates the other gains.”
DA KZN community safety and liaison spokesperson Sharon Hoosen said: “This is no cause for celebration when KZN remains South Africa’s murder capital, contributing a staggering 25.4% of all cases. KZN’s Inanda and uMlazi SAPS also remain the stations with the highest number of murder cases in the entire country.”
Blessed Gwala, IFP KZN spokesperson for community safety and liaison, said the party called on authorities to provide tangible solutions.
“The increasing availability of weapons has helped drive rising insecurity and crime, where guns are used to commit a range of crimes. The IFP believes the police must work towards eradicating illegal guns to ensure the province is freed from ruthless criminals.”