North Coast crime stats show big jump in ‘contact crime’

Serious crime remains a huge problem on the Dolphin Coast with dramatic increases in sexual offences and robberies over the last year.

These findings follow the early release of the national crime statistics by the South African Police Service (Saps), which from now on will be published quarterly.

The Courier examined four police districts – Umhlali, Tongaat, KwaDukuza and Mandeni – and while so-called “trio crimes” – carjacking, house robbery and business robbery – have shown no increase, a notable cause for concern was the drastic increase in contact crimes across the board.

Combined, statistics for the four stations indicate a total of 4 262 contact crimes. Contact crime includes murder, attempted murder, sexual offences, robbery and common assault.

KwaDukuza 
(Umvoti River to Zinkwazi and inland to Doringkop and Etete) 

KwaDukuza Saps reported the most contact crimes coming in at 2 446, an increase of 106 cases over the previous year.

Top five increases in crime categories for KwaDukuza in terms of cases were:

• Robbery with aggravating circumstances – 706, an increase of 52 cases.

• Assault with the intent to inflict grievous bodily harm – 659, an increase of 46 cases.

• Malicious damage to property – 402, an increase of 42 cases.

• Sexual assault – 39, an increase of 21 cases.

• In fifth place, theft out of or from motor vehicle showed an increase of 14 cases, standing at 260.

Trio crimes showed a slight decrease.

Decreases included carjacking down to 32 cases, house robbery down to 133 cases and business robbery dropping to 61 cases.

Warrant Officer Deepa Naidoo of the KwaDukuza Saps family violence, child protection and sexual offences unit, said victims of sexual assault were often scared of following through with cases, at times withdrawing them completely.

“I advise any person who has been raped to open a case. You will receive the necessary help. The problem is some people open false cases or withdraw cases after the perpetrator has been arrested. This is a huge waste of time and resources,” she said.

KwaDukuza CPF chairperson, Dr Ephraim Zungu said that working together at community level and increasing cooperation with all security companies and structures would yield much better results.

“I sincerely believe that more capacity within our stations would also equip our men and women in blue to better serve our growing population,” he said.

Umhlali
(Tongaat River to Umvoti River, inland to Glendale Heights and Upper Tongaat) 

The top five crimes recorded at Umhlali were residential burglaries, assault with the intent to inflict grievous bodily harm, non-residential burglary, commercial crime and rape.

Residential burglaries increased by 84 cases to 322, assault increased by 53 cases, non-residential burglary by 43 cases, commercial crime (fraud related) by 39 cases and rape up by 32.

The most noteworthy increase was driving under the influence of alcohol or drugs. This crime measured a 150% increase, from 18 to 45 cases.

Trio crimes showed a decrease except for house robbery cases, which rose by 11 to 34.

Speaking on the rise in non-residential burglaries, Ilembe Chamber of Commerce CEO, Cobus Oelofse said that while crime had risen in this category, Ballito Business Park had recorded no increases.

“The increase in crime within my mandate, white collar as well as burglaries and other criminal actions at business precincts, can be contributed to a collaboration of factors, with the lockdown’s stranglehold on the ability to earn a livelihood a significant factor,” said Oelofse.

The enforcement of lockdown regulations and compliance, he said, was impacting on the Saps’ and other security resources as well.

This was evident in the number of crimes detected by police, dropping substantially across the board.

Referencing the need for a satellite police station within Ballito, Oelofse said: “The issues of additional Saps have been taken up on a number of occasions and, is an issue which is under constant review with our regional Saps cluster. A temporary and mobile Saps station during peak trading times in appropriate locations, is also on the table for discussion.”

Tongaat
(From Frasers in the north to King Shaka International Airport and inland to Tongaat)

The most prevalent crime in Tongaat was driving under the influence, up a startling 344.8% from 29 to 129 cases. The increase could be attributed to more roadblocks.

Other serious crimes which increased included commercial crime up from 64 to 142 cases, common assault up 38 to 254 cases, common robbery up 33 to 75 cases and robbery with aggravating circumstances up 33 to 202 cases.

Tongaat CPF chairperson, Nazir Sadack told the Courier that despite the increase in police efforts, drinking and driving had increased, specifically during the Festive Season.

He called for increased policing.

Speaking about the 29.1% increase in sexual offences (these include rape and sexual assault), Sadack said women need to be empowered to come forward when being abused.

“Programmes, counselling, hotlines and places of safety need to be set up. We have a victim empowerment centre at the Tongaat Saps which is under-utilised,” he said.

Sadack urged Tongaat residents to become more actively involved in the community policing forum.

Mandeni
(Mangete to Mandeni)

Mandeni noted an increase in trio crimes, with carjacking increasing by 2, business robbery increasing by 10 and, a decrease by 1 case for house robbery, standing at 17.

Taking first on the list of top five crimes, robbery with aggravating circumstances recorded 29 more cases, coming in at 65.

Residential burglary rose by 23, now at 86, commercial crime moved up 19 cases, standing at 94 with non-residential burglary coming in at 33 cases, an increase of 13.

Sexual offences showed an increase of 12 cases, now at 34.

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