The Western Cape is losing its tag as the murder capital of the country, provincial minister of community safety Leonard Ramatlakane said on Tuesday when announcing the intensification of a provincial crime-combating strategy.
”We are making a dent, an impact … We are winning the battle,” an upbeat Ramatlakane told reporters.
He said Capetonians could look forward to the release of crime statistics in September, saying there were signs that all contact crime, such as murder, was on a downward trend.
Ramatlakane said during 2002/03 the Western Cape recorded 3 664 murders, of which 33% took place in the Khayelitsha and Nyanga police precincts.
He said these ”shocking statistics” led to the police’s people-orientated sustainable strategy, which helped turn around the crime situation in the province.
So, in 2003/04 the murder rate dropped to 2 839, and to 2 680 in 2004/05, the lowest since the advent of democracy in 1994.
Ramatlakane said the strategy’s success meant the Western Cape was the only province to achieve Cabinet’s threshold of a 7% decrease in contact crime when it recorded a 7,7% decrease.
Rape was the only contact crime to increase, with Ramatlakane acknowledging that this was a priority area.
”It’s a difficult crime that is committed behind closed doors,” he said, adding that up to 40% of the complaints were withdrawn because the victims knew the perpetrators.
Provincial commissioner Mzwandile Petros said, coupled to the people-orientated strategy, was a plan to beef up the detective service.
This meant filling the 911 detective and crime-scene management posts still vacant at March 31 by next year, and retraining officers to improve investigations.
The police were also targeting the 12 freeways, increasing visibility, in a bid to block possible escape routes related to a spike in cash-in-transit heists and hijackings.
Petros said police were also concentrating on organised crime, ongoing taxi violence and police corruption among other things. — Sapa