The Democratic Alliance (DA) continued pushing the Ministry of Safety and Security on Wednesday for the release of crime statistics on a more regular basis than once annually.
”The Ministry of Safety and Security is doing great damage to the credibility of [its] crime statistics,” DA chief whip Douglas Gibson said in a statement.
”It is great news if the number of hijackings is indeed declining, as Safety and Security Ministry spokesperson Leslie Xinwa claimed [on Tuesday]. But why then won’t Minister [Charles] Nqakula come out in the open with the latest numbers, which he has had for months?” he asked.
He was reacting to Xinwa’s statement on Tuesday that hijackings were declining.
Xinwa said this in response to a report from a Technikon SA researcher that South Africa’s many hijackers were generally able to commit up to 100 car robberies before being caught.
”If the minister wishes to claim victories in the fight against crime, he must back it up with the facts. Otherwise, based on the figures we have, and the perceptions of the general public, we will be forced to question his claims,” Gibson said.
He said Nqakula’s claims did not correlate with crime statistics given to the DA under the Promotion of Access to Information Act last week. While it appeared Nqakula was holding onto more recent information, the statistics from January 1996 to December 2001 showed an increase in the crime.
”Nationally, since 1996, car-hijackings have increased by 18,9%. Gauteng province, where almost 60% of all hijackings occur has seen an increase of 17,9% in the same time period.”
Gibson said the number of hijackings in Gauteng declined by 0,3% between 2000 and 2001.
The figures per province for 2000/2001 showed an increase in the number of hijackings of 14% in the Eastern Cape, 9,7% in Mpumalanga, 12,9% in the North West, 50% in the Northern Cape, 35,9% in Limpopo and 31,9% in the Western Cape.
The Western Cape had been particularly badly hit, with a 172% increase since 1996.
Xinwa said this week that the latest crime figures would be released at the end of August or beginning of September. – Sapa