Johannesburg - Gauteng Police Commissioner Elias Mawela reported that crime in the province increased by 4.1% in three months.
Mawela released crime statistics for the period April 1 to June 30 at the Gauteng Provincial Legislature on Tuesday.
“Our overall crime for the quarter under review has increased by 4%, which translates to 4 022 more counts as compared with the same period in 2022. Gauteng has contributed 27.9% to the nation’s overall crime statistics for the first quarter of 2023-24,” said Mawela.
He said they were able to maintain the provincial contribution at an average of 27% over the period of five years and had since observed a slight reduction of 0.4% points between 2019 and 2023 from 28.3% to 27.9%, which is equivalent to 10 170 counts less.
Mawela said in terms of percentage reduction, this might seem insignificant from the point of view of ordinary citizens of this province, especially the actual victims of crime; however, to them as law-enforcers, any reduction was welcomed as it was an indication that fewer people were affected by these crimes, which meant they were slowly working towards reducing overall crime in this province.
“Contact crimes have increased by 6% for the quarter under review as compared with the same period last year. Contact crimes, the major contributor to our crime scoreboard, have contributed 42 752 offences.
“Assault common and assault with intent to cause grievous bodily harm (GBH) is still the main contributor to our overall contact crime. For the quarter under review, these two offences have increased by 11.3% and 7.8%, respectively, with a combined 20 088 counts more,” he said.
Mawela further said a total of 13 214 suspects were arrested for the category of contact crime.
He said confronting illegal mining head-on (of course with the assistance of SAPS specialised units, other law-enforcement agencies, government departments, private companies and community structures) has proven the practice of gathering community-based intelligence through community engagements very successful.
Mawela said the scores of arrests and confiscations of illegal mining tools of trade were mostly done when they followed up on information received from the various communities.
“For the period under review, we have arrested a total of 9 393 undocumented persons, some of them linked to illegal mining. The DPCI has also arrested 89 suspects from their 40 high-level operations; the work is continuing,” said Mawela.
He revealed that they had 12 SAPS members certified as drone pilots by the South African Civil Aviation Authority, and an additional nine members were undergoing training.
The EFF in Gauteng said it noted with dismay the increase in crime rates in the province.
“The EFF has no confidence in the ANC government in resolving crime in this country. We call on residents of Gauteng to register to vote EFF and prepare themselves to remove the ANC from government come the 2024 General Elections,” said EFF Gauteng chairperson Nkululeko Dunga.
The Star