The New National Party (NNP) has called for an urgent inquiry into the number of people who have died while being held in police custody.
NNP safety and security spokesperson Johnny Schippers said in a statement on Thursday that government figures showed 559 people had died in custody over the past three years.
He said according to a written reply from Safety and Security Minister Charles Nqakula to a parliamentary question, 78 people had died in police custody between January and March this year, with only 35 of these from natural causes.
This followed 236 deaths in 2002 and 245 in 2001, with less than half of those numbers due to natural causes.
”Most of these deaths are a result of suicides, injuries sustained in custody, negligence, deaths because of items that could inflict injury not being taken away on time, and not obtaining medical attention for injuries in time.
”Why these people didn’t receive treatment in time is a question that needs to be answered,” Schippers said.
The NNP, which has a co-operation agreement with the African National Congress, also said the party could no longer hide from South Africa’s high crime levels by withholding statistics.
”The struggle against crime is every South African’s struggle that we should all take responsibility for,” Schippers said.
Statistics should be made available every quarter so all role-players could get involved in the fight against crime.
”By withholding crime statistics, the government is opening itself up to opponents to try and score cheap political points because of existing uncertainties over levels of crime,” he said. – Sapa