/ 20 June 2003

DA claims ‘people’s victory’ over police stats

The South African official opposition Democratic Alliance (DA) has claimed “a people’s victory” over the pending issue of police crime statistics.

Democratic Alliance chief whip and justice spokesperson Douglas Gibson said he had insisted in Parliament that police crime statistics should be released. “The minister [of Safety and Security Charles Nqakula] has consistently refused to publicly release last year’s statistics until August.”

He told a public meeting at Constantia that he “was obliged to act … in terms of the Promotion of Access to Information Act. I served this notice a few days ago, giving the minister 30 days to respond”.

“I am delighted to learn that Penuell Maduna, the Justice Minister, [has] stated at Blue Downs that South Africa’s crime statistics will be released soon.”

This was confirmed by justice spokesperson Paul Setsetse but he said that his ministry “did not wish to elaborate more on these issues”. He referred the matter to Safety and Security Minister Charles Nqukula’s office. His spokesperson was not immediately available for comment.

Meanwhile, Gibson said some people felt that he overstated the case “when I say when it comes to crime this country is in crisis. What we see is that criminals are getting bolder and more organised.

“Syndicates are targeting homes with the intention of robbing and violently assaulting the residents.”

He said in the last few weeks “these attacks have increased in frequency and in severity. On Friday [June 13] Neil Ward was murdered and his wife was pistol-whipped in their driveway [in Constantia] by a group of men”.

“Last week it was the fate of a 54-year-old woman in Claremont and of another victim in Constantia. This plague has spread [to Cape Town] from Johannesburg where driveway robberies are an everyday affair.

“It is no use responding to failure by complaining that your opponents are ‘politicising crime’, as the ANC [African National Congress] has done.

“Everyone is affected by crime and the ANC are turning a deaf ear to the people and a blind eye to the facts.”

Gibson said people asked why it was necessary to invoke legislation to get the facts. “The police have had all of the crime statistics for last year for many months. I am therefore claiming a victory for the people. In a democracy the people have a right to know and we have reaffirmed that right.” – I-Net Bridge