The Western Cape has recorded the highest number of cases reported to the police watchdog, the Independent Police Investigative Directorate (Ipid) in the financial year ending in March 2023.
This was contained in the entity’s annual report that was recently tabled in Parliament for the 2022-23 financial year.
“A total of 5 274 cases were registered by Ipid during the period under review. It can be observed that Western Cape reported the highest intake of 1 038, followed by Gauteng 976 and KwaZulu-Natal 644,” executive director Jennifer Ntlatseng said in her report.
Other provinces fared as follows:
- Free State 609
- Eastern Cape 501
- Mpumalanga 513
- Limpopo 387
- North West 329;
- Northern Cape 263
- National Specialised Investigation Team 14
An analysis of the cases compared to the previous financial year showed that the majority of the provinces experienced an increase in intake except the Northern Cape, Eastern Cape, Gauteng and North West, which had a decrease, according to Ntlatseng.
“Nationally an overall decrease of 0.4% was observed.”
The report showed that of the 5 274 cases reported, 3 354 were assault cases, 710 were complaints of discharge of an official firearm, 393 were cases of deaths as a result of police action and 221 were for deaths in police custody.
There were 122 were for rape by police officers, four rapes in police custody, 228 torture, 71 corruption cases, 144 were other criminal misconduct and 26 non-compliance with the Ipid Act.
Ntlaseng said the figures showed that Ipid experienced an overall decrease of 0.4% cases compared to the previous financial year intake.
The cases were down from 5 295 to 5 274.
The watchdog body probed 4 969 cases involving SAPS members and 90 pertaining to municipal police service members on various criminal offences.
“Most cases reported were related to allegations of assault (64%), followed by complaints of discharge of an official firearm (14%), death as a result of police action (8%) and death in police custody (4%).
“This means that the majority of resources were spent investigating assault cases.”
The report said deaths as a result of police action have contributed significantly to the total number of deaths.
KwaZulu-Natal has the highest number with 115 cases, followed by Gauteng with 108 cases, Eastern Cape with 37 and Mpumalanga with 32 cases
“In some instances, incidents of death as a result of police action had more than one victim, for example incidents of business robbery and hijacked vehicles.
“There were incidents where two or more victims died and were noted in the following provinces: Eastern Cape, Free State, Gauteng, KwaZulu-Natal, Limpopo, Mpumalanga and Western Cape.
“KwaZulu-Natal had recorded 19 incidents of multiple deaths ranging from between two to four victims at a scene, and also Gauteng recorded nine incidents of such.”
The report also said the most incidents of suicide in police custody were reported in Gauteng, with 11 cases, followed by KwaZulu-Natal with eight cases and Western Cape with seven cases.
Ipid said incidents of rape by the police officers while on or off duty stood at 122, from the 99 reported in the previous financial year.
Most of these were in Gauteng, with 25 incidents, followed by KwaZulu-Natal with 24 and Eastern Cape with 17.
Police who allegedly raped while on duty totalled 43, and those who were off duty totalled 79.
A total of 2 093 criminal cases were referred to the National Prosecuting Authority for a decision.
Cape Times