Xinhua News Agency
PRETORIA — The first three months of 2022 recorded increases in murder, robbery of cash in transit, kidnappings, and truck hijacking because of the country’s socio-economic levels, said Minister of Police Bheki Cele on Friday, June 3.
Cele made the remarks in Pretoria while presenting the crime statistics for the first quarter of this year.
He said murders increased by 22.2 percent, truck hijacking by 31.4 percent, carjacking by 19.7 percent, and robbery of cash in transit by 26.2 percent compared to the same period last year.
“The first three months of this year, 10,818 people were raped in South Africa. Out of the 6,083 people killed in the country, 898 of them were women and 306 were children under the age of 17 years. A total of 3,306 kidnapping cases were opened by the police. This crime trend has shown a sharp increase with over 1,700 more cases reported to the police compared to the same comparative period. Most of the kidnapping cases were high jacking, robbery, and rape-related,” said Cele.
Cele said they have managed to arrest criminal syndicates involved in extortion, kidnapping, cash-in-transit heists, and drug smuggling. The police are working hard to remove corrupt officers and have a station accountability plan to improve efficiency.
“One thing is for sure, police alone cannot win the fight against crime. We need deeper partnerships with communities built on trust, commitment, and delivery. These quarterly figures are used as a management tool to guide the operational plans of the South African Police Service,” he said.
He called on the government, business, non-governmental organizations, civil society, and communities to join the police in tackling crime. – gb
