Safety and Security Minister Charles Nqakula has provided Parliament with inaccurate crime statistics when replying to questions, the Democratic Alliance (DA) said on Thursday.
The DA’s Dianne Kohler-Barnard said Nqakula gave two contradicting answers to the same question.
”Besides the contempt with which Parliament’s oversight role is being treated, these contradictions raise serious questions about the South African Police Service’s [SAPS] ability to make strategic decisions based on an accurate assessment of crime trends,” she said.
The questions, which were submitted by the DA and the African Christian Democratic Party (ACDP), related to crimes committed by members of the SAPS.
The response provided by the ministry to the ACDP question showed that the number of police charged for rape was 21 in 2003, 40 in 2004 and 31 in 2005.
This contradicted the reply given to the DA, which shows that apart from two who were charged in 2004, no other police were charged during the 2003 to 2005 period.
The fact that the minister gave two different answers to similar questions, Kohler-Barnard said, proved that he was treating Parliament with disdain.
”This level of confusion, inaccuracy and lack of clarity is unacceptable and only serves to undermine the public’s confidence in the SAPS even further,” she said.
However, Nqakula’s spokesperson, Trevor Bloem, on Thursday denied that the varying figures were a reflection of any incompetence on the part the safety ministry.
”Some of the figures come from the SAPS while others come from the Independent Complaints Commission (ICD).
”We have made this clear in our response to the mentioned questions,” he said.
Bloem said figures from the two entities will always differ.
”Because the ICD does not investigate all cases that are reported to the police involving a member of the SAPS, you will always find that their figures are lower compared with those of the SAPS,” he said. — Sapa