‘Spin does not hide the truth’

Opposition parties on Monday by and large criticised the latest edition of the police’s crime statistics, saying they were old, drew the wrong conclusions and lacked credibility.

Democratic Alliance chief whip and safety spokesperson Douglas Gibson described the figures for April 1 2002 to March 31 2003 as old and outdated.

“Those statistics are 18 months old for the oldest and six months out of date for the newest figures,” Gibson scorned.

He also described a pre-release “lock-up” of the media as laughable.

“A budget lock-up by the Minister of Finance includes parliamentarians and is justified because pre-knowledge of the Budget proposals could unfairly benefit some. A lock-up is ridiculous when it releases old and outdated statistics,” Gibson said.

He added that Monday’s statistics had in any case been “leaked” selectively by the Safety and Security Ministry for months.

In addition, organisations such as Business against Crime received the figures weekly.

“The crime trends show that some crimes have stabilised. But the arrest and the convictions are lagging badly. Twelve and a half million serious crimes have been reported in the last nine years but only 6% of the criminals have been punished.

“That is the reality which the minister tries to hide. Spin and massaging does not hide the truth.

“The only lock-up I am interested in is a lock-up of criminals. Whatever the crime trends, the one thing needing attention is the arrest, conviction and punishment of the guilty.”

The New National Party added that national figures were valuable, but localised crime statistics would be even more useful to local police forums.

“The NNP also calls on the minister to provide localised crime statistics to local police forums. The public have the right to know and monitor police actions in their area. These statistics should be made available on a quarterly basis,” NNP spokesperson Johnny Schippers said in a statement.

He added that “notwithstanding the detail of the statistics the NNP is still seriously concerned about the levels of violent crime in our country.

“Why do hijackers kill a motorist even though the motorist does not resist? Why do women get violently assaulted and raped when the motivation for the crime is robbery?

“Why do farmers and their wives get burned with irons and brutally assaulted before the attackers steal household goods?” he asked.

“The levels of violent crime yet again confirms the NNP’s call for the reinstatement of the death penalty.”

The Freedom Front said it too was distressed to note that violent crime had increased despite the overall reported decrease in lawbreaking.

“What is very distressing is the increase in crime that is related to murder,” Freedom Front spokesperson Pieter Groenewald said.

“According to the latest statistics, attempted murder increased [by] 12,4% and assault increased [by] 5,8%. Aggravated robberies and ordinary robberies increased [by] 8,2%. The increase in these crimes related to murder shows that South African citizens live in an unsafe country and that crime is on the increase.

“The minister of safety and security must stop making assertions that crime is stabilising and rather look at the whole picture and see that citizens are being threatened,” Groenewald said in a statement.

“The murder rate of 47,4 murders per 100 000 of the population is exceedingly high in comparison to other countries in the world. In Canada the murder rate is four murders per 100 000 of the population while in Australia it is 3,69 per 100 000 of the population.”

The United Democratic Movement on Monday questioned the credibility of the figures.

“The statistics do not give the full picture of the crime situation in the country as they fail to give specific figures but only ratios,” the party said in a statement.

“For the government to say that crime is ‘stabilising’ is nothing but an insult to thousands of law-abiding citizens of the county who continue to be the victims of serious crimes such as murder, armed robbery, hijacking and rape every year,” the UDM’s safety and security spokesperson, Jakes Maseka, said.

Pan Africanist Congress leader Motsoko Pheko said Monday’s released crime statistics did not reflect experience.

Pheko, a member of the parliamentary portfolio committee on safety and security, said people “on the ground” were still suffering at the hands of criminals.

“Our stats may show a different picture, but on the ground the situation has not improved,” he said.

In the report National Police Commissioner Jackie Selebi said his service had made great strides in reducing serious crime levels.

Murders had dropped by 1,3% during the period under review, and rape by 5,3%. Intentional unlawful killing was now 29,5% down on the 1994 figure, Selebi added.

According to the report, almost two-thirds of all murders committed in South Africa last year occurred in only one-third of the country’s nine provinces: KwaZulu-Natal, Gauteng and the Western Cape.

Rapid urbanisation, growing vigilantism and increasing levels of HIV infection and Aids were among the factors fuelling crime.

“[These] should be seen as the background against which the incidence of crime … should be evaluated.

“Despite efforts to combat crime, these factors and conditions continue to expand and increase the probability of crime occurring,” the document said. — Sapa