Department thanks Mpumalanga communities for decline in crime

27 October 2010

The Department of Safety, Security and Liaison in Mpumalanga has welcomed the recent Crime Statistics for the financial year 2009/10 and thanked the community for contributing to the decrease in certain categories of crime especially contact crimes in the province.

During the 2009/10 financial year, a total of 128 063 of serious crime cases were registered within Mpumalanga Province.

Six of the seven categories of contact crime have shown a decrease. This includes; murder, attempted murder, assault with intent to inflict grievous bodily harm, common assault, robbery with aggravating circumstances and common robbery.

On behalf of the department, MEC Sibongile Manana said that although there has been a decrease, the province has not yet achieved the 7 to 10 percent reduction target.

“It is also pleasing to note that all contact related crimes have decreased,” said Manana.

Arson and malicious damage to property have decreased by 10% and -6.2% respectively.

Property related crimes have increased in all categories except for burglary at residential premises which has decreased by a mere 2.9%.

Theft out of or from motor vehicle has recorded the biggest increase of 14.4% in the category.

Stock theft is one crime that affects many people, particularly farm owners, farm dwellers and people living in rural areas. However, in our province it seems as if the Gert Sibande Region is the most affected.

Areas affected the most include Ermelo, Sheepmoor, Carolina, and Standerton. In the four mentioned areas, 569 stock theft cases were reported which shows an increase.

This translates to a lot of money of which the owners of the animals lost to criminals.

There has been an increase on crimes dependent on police for detection. These crimes include illegal possession of fire arms, drug related crimes and driving under the influence of alcohol or drugs.

Illegal possession of firearms has increased by 4.9%, drug related crimes have increased by 23.9% while incidences of driving under the influence of alcohol or drugs have increased by 10.1%.

“This shows that the police are working very hard to arrest those with illegal fire arms before they hurt good citizens, because almost all other crimes are committed by culprits in possession of fire arms.

Drugs play a major role as a generator of crime, and police should do more to detect this type of crime in order to increase the arrest and conviction rate”, said Manana. 

Other serious crimes that include all theft not mentioned elsewhere have decreased by -6.2% while commercial crime and shoplifting have increased by 14.2% and 8.0% respectively.

Cash in transit is contributing a lot with an increase of 45.5% in the category of robbery with aggravated circumstances. Also cases of robbery at business premises and residential premises have increased by 19.6% and 8.8% respectively. 

In the same category, carjacking has decreased by 27.9%, and bank robberies decreased by 50%.

“While we welcome the decreases in certain categories of crime, we still have a lot of work to do in order to achieve a sustained and significant decrease in all categories of crime.

We can only build on these encouraging signs as we move forward. As we appreciate the willingness of communities to report crime and also work with the police to solve it, we also need police officers who are immune to corruption. 

We cannot, as a province, constantly have police officers who are in the newspapers for being on the wrong side of the law. We need police officers who are going to assist in curbing crime. We cannot have police working with the criminals. 

The department will continue to mobilise all sectors of the society in the fight against crime including in the business sector,” concluded Manana.

Enquiries:

Joseph Mabuza
Tel: 013 766 4055
Cell: 082 678 1450 

Issued by: Mpumalanga Department of Safety, Security and Liaison

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