WEDNESDAY, 4.00PM
JOINT crime prevention action by police and the army have succeeded in bringing down Gauteng’s murder rate by 11%, robberies by 10% and bank robberies by 26%, safety and security MEC Jessie Duarte said on Thursday.
“The government in Gauteng can now announce that it is indeed increasingly dealing much more effectively with the problem of criminality,” Duarte said at a press briefing. The successes were contrary to reports and perceptions that crime is on the increase, she said.
Murder in Gauteng in the first three months of this year had decreased by 11,8% compared to the same period last year. “This shows a remarkable decrease and this is attributable to the measures taken jointly by the police, SANDF, the intelligence community and the public at large.”
Rape had gone down by 4%, which could be attributed to more communities, government departments, police and other stakeholders working together. However, Duarte added, a decrease in rape by just 4% was “not very impressive”.
Despite the spate of robberies and bank robberies in recent months, bank robberies decreased by 26,9%. “The police were also able to prevent most of the other robberies which are occurring within the communities by 10,2%. Despite this we believe that much more still needs to be done in this area,” said Duarte.
Duarte said a number of crimes had shown an increase: drug-related crimes by 9%, theft of motor vehicles and cycles by 7,7%, and illegal possession of firearms and ammunition by 5,5%.
Duarte said anti-crime operations had been conducted by police, the army and the air force since April 14. The SANDF deployed 965 troops every day in all seven police areas in Gauteng. Security forces set up 5 930 roadblocks, and searched 225 709 vehicles and 33 557 premises. Property to the value of R35,7-million was confiscated. This included 2 507 vehicles, 49 home-made firerams, 1 458 revolvers and pistols, 31 AK47 rifles, six R4 or R5 rifles, one R1 rifle, 64 other calibre rifles, 60 short guns, 34 other automatic or semi-automatic firearms, and 11 530 rounds of ammunition. Arrests for both petty and serious crimes numbered 48 200.
Safety and Security Minister Sydney Mufamadi told Parliament on Thursday that police had made a total of 316 arrests in coinnection with 642 reported bank robberies last year. Up to June 18 this year, 145 arrests were made in 121 such cases, he said in a written reply to a question from Nyambeni Ramaremisa (NP).