Barry Streek
Property crimes, such as robbery and theft, increased last year and in the first
quarter of this year, but the murder rate went down, the first official crime
statistics since July last year show.
The figures, released this week after an 11-month moratorium on the publication
of crime statistics ended, also indicate that the number of car thefts went down
but the levels of carjacking and the hijacking of trucks remained the same.
However, Minister of Safety and Security Steve Tshwete warned at a press conference this week that the statistics were “unreliable” because they are still based on the old system of collecting information about crime, but added
that they could be used freely if anyone still wanted to do so.
He said the new computerised Geographic Information System (GIS), which has been
implemented at 340 priority police stations covering 80% of the country, will
come into operation for the first time when the crime figures are released in
July, August and September.
The police have enlisted 72 new data analysts and 600 data typists, as well as
trained 1 800 police members, in the implementation of the new system.
“It is expected that future crime statistics will be more reliable and credible
in line with acceptable scientific norms as a result of the initiatives taken,”
Tshwete said.
The “unreliable” crime figures which compare the first quarter of this year to the first quarter of last year indicate that robbery with aggravating circumstances increased to 251 per 100 000 of the population last year and increased again in the first quarter of this year.
Residential housebreaking also increased last year to 688 per 100 000 and remained at the same level for the first three months of 2001, while housebreaking of business premises decreased to 209 last year and continued decreasing in the first quarter of this year.
“Other robbery” went up last year to 198 and continued increasing in the first
three months of this year, as did “other thefts” 1 247 last year.
However, car thefts dropped to 229 last year and to 54 for the first quarter of
this year. Levels of carjacking (34), hijacking of trucks (11), robbery of cash-
in-transit (0,5) and bank robberies (1) remained at the same levels last year
and this year.
Murder (49) and attempted murder (67) went down last year, while there was no
change in the level of reported rapes (120), but serious assaults (624) and common assaults (569) increased.
The total for all 20 serious crimes for which details were given was 5 634 per
100 000 people last year, up from the previous year.
Based on an estimated population of 42-million, these figures indicate that there were more than 20 000 murders in South Africa last year, as well as more
than 26 000 attempted murders, 95 000 robberies with aggravating circumstances,
50 000 reported rapes, 260 000 serious assaults and 239 000 common assaults,
while more than 289 000 homes and 87 000 business premises were broken into and
more than 96 000 vehicles were stolen.
They also indicate 2,4-million serious crimes were reported in 2000.
Tshwete said the new process of collecting crime statistics would be “of tremendous value to the South African Police Service that will enhance their
accurate day-to-day planning of crime-prevention operations.
‘It must, however, be noted that it was not possible for the task team [led by
Deputy Commissioner Louis Eloff to improve the reliability of crime statistics]
to rectify old statistics on the system, even though the police verified certain
statistics regarding priority crimes for planning purposes.
“The focus has rather been on implementing measures to improve the reliability
of our crime statistics for future use.”
Tshwete also said the decision to impose the moratorium was not inspired by any
desire to hide the state of crime in South Africa and he had no doubt the police
were on top of the crime situation.