Home invasions and business robberies increase on North Coast, reveal national crime stats

Critical statistics for violent crime over the last year have shown a marked improvement over the broad North Coast area, with some areas boasting the best improvement experienced in ten years.

Figures released for national crime statistics are recorded per charge and not per docket, and a drop in overall charges for rape from a monthly average of seven to four cases across the Tongaat, Umhlali and Stanger precincts together with a decrease in other reported sexual offences may be a silver lining for the year, however the notable rise in domestic house break-ins as well daylight commercial crime has seen CPF groups, Neighbourhood Watch groups and the SAPS maintain a more vigilant attitude in this domain.

Stanger CPF spokesperson Samson Pillay said KwaDukuza residents were delighted to see the initiative that SAPS had taken in stepping up their patrols to safeguard businesses and residents from crime.

“We have already seen the police keeping an active eye on the community and feel confident that this will help reduce the opportunities that criminals take advantage of,” said Pillay.

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The Tongaat and Umhlali precincts both indicated an increase in murder charges for 2019 where the 10 year average of two murders per month had doubled to four, which Ballito Neighbourhood Watch (BNW) chairperson Candice Henderson says could be a by-product of ‘election tension’ earlier in the year.

However the central Ballito residential hub itself has not been affected, which Candice puts down to hard reporting, alert residents and consistent input from the CPF community, as well as the inclusion of CCTV-based security linked to national databases for quick vehicle identification and response triggering in some areas such as Salt Rock and Seatides.

According to CPF Tongaat chairman Nazir Sadack, house break-ins and tyre theft cases are becoming more prevalent in Tongaat and outlying areas, and urges those residents to mirror the input of the Ballito cluster and start becoming involved.

“There is an apathy with reporting petty crimes like clothes stolen off lines and tyre theft, and if the areas reflected more realistic statistics in this regard, the SAPS could devote more resources and patrols to those districts most affected,” said Nazir.

The last decade shows a steady hover around the precinct average for fatal violent crimes in Tongaat, Umhlali and KwaDukuza, but a small decline in home invasions and sexual offences, believed to be a result of collaboration between police and community based security measures.

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