Police Commissioner, Lieutenant-General Thembisile Patekile and MEC for Police Oversight and Community Safety, Reagen Allen, painted a grim picture as they released the latest crime statistics for the Western Cape.
The province’s top officials gathered at the Mfuleni SAPS on Tuesday, where it was revealed that eight of the Cape’s cop shops were ranked in the top 30 murder stations in the country.
The third quarter stats were recorded from October 2022 until December 2022.
Overall, police stations across the province recorded 31 790 contact crimes, which includes murder, attempted murder, sexual offences, common assault and robbery, assault with GBH and robbery with aggravating circumstances.
This is an increase of 15.8% for the same time period in 2021.
Mfuleni specifically was ranked No 1 in the province for reported murders, and also named as the top murder station nationally.
The station recorded 89 murders compared to the 57 reported in the same period in 2021.
Delft SAPS followed in second place provincially and third nationwide, followed by Nyanga SAPS which recorded 68 murders.
The stats revealed that “arguments, misunderstandings, road rage and provocation” was the main cause for murder, accounting for 239 cases.
This was followed by 229 gang-related killings, 73 mob justice-related killings, while 22 murders were taxi-related, and 60 murders were committed during robberies.
In addition, 166 murders were committed in retaliation, out of revenge or as punishment.
The stats further revealed that the most frequently used murder weapons are firearms. A total of 573 people were shot to death.
With regards to gender-based violence, the murder of women has seen an increase of 11, with 125 women killed in the last quarter.
Child murders decreased by 10, from 58 to 48.
Allen said they were not at the briefing to defend or put a spin on the crime statistics, but to have an honest conversation and to ensure that none of the province’s stations ranks in the top crimes lists again.
“The stats do paint a grim picture, but it also gives us enough reason to work together and work through it.
“There is severe under-resourcing across the country which ultimately leads to a number of scenarios,” he said.
“This makes the community not trust SAPS and also puts a heavy burden on everyone, from the lieutenant-general, to the station commanders.
“Nationally SAPS employed 105 000 officers at station level, even though there are supposed to be 197 000 officers.
“Many of our officers have to attend to two-to-three cases per person per day, this is why we have the more boots on the ground approach with LEAP officers in the Western Cape.”
When asked about the devolution of SAPS in the Western Cape, which will give the province more input in fighting crime, Patekile replied that it was “in the business of policing, not politics”.
He did, however, call on communities to stand with SAPS to help fight crime.
The top cop said crime-fighting would not be possible without the support from others such as neighbourhood watches, the City of Cape Town’s Law Enforcement, community police forums, the Walking Bus and the community at large.
tracy-lynn.ruiters@inl.co.za