More than 2 300 suspects were arrested for murder and 1 619 for attempted murder between January and March this year, the government’s justice, crime prevention and security cluster of ministries reported on Thursday.
A further 3 967 arrests were made for rape, 423 for indecent assault, 11 445 for common assault, 3 614 for aggravated robbery and 4 010 for common robbery, Minister of Correctional Services Ngconde Balfour told reporters.
More than 5 500 law-enforcement operations were held over the period, focusing on contact crimes.
Nearly 300 repeat-offenders have been identified, of whom 77 were arrested, the minister said.
More than 55,5ha of dagga plantations were sprayed and 38,8 tons of the drug worth R38,85-million destroyed.
A total of 12 883 people were arrested for drug-related crimes and 16 illegal laboratories dismantled.
Eighteen suspects in 11 corruption cases were arrested, as well as 45 syndicate leaders and 52 syndicate runners.
Balfour said the police have been allocated 11 000 posts for the 2006/07 financial year, bringing the total staff complement to 162 000.
”In order to improve service delivery to communities, the South African Police Service [SAPS] has re-engineered all its present processes and [is] in the process of eradicating unnecessary and duplicated functions and activities.”
Steps were also underway to flatten the hierarchy of the SAPS and boost capacity at police-station level. Staff at station level is to be boosted by almost 35 000.
Balfour said R60-million has been set aside in the current financial year to call up 8 000 police reservists, growing to R80 million for 15 000 next year, and R120 million for 25 000 reservists in 2008.
The minister announced a declining trend in the prison population, dropping from 187 000 in 2003 to 156 000 last year.
The number of awaiting-trial detainees dropped from 52 313 in January last year to 46 327 in December.
”The department is considering introducing parole conditions for certain categories of offenders who display clear conduct of effective rehabilitation,” he said. ”This will exclude those that have committed serious crimes such as murder and armed robbery.”
The National Prosecuting Authority (NPA) was conducting an audit of all criminal cases arising from the work of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission.
”Sixteen cases are being further investigated and interaction with the victims and their families has been established,” Balfour said.
”The NPA is preparing possible charges and conducting research on anticipated defences in these cases.” — Sapa