The general rise in violent and organised crime was a serious concern, and poor police training and lack of support were to blame, according to DA police spokesman Zakhele Mbhele.
He said lack of support for the police and apparent poor training led to the rise of crime as reflected in this year’s crime statistics.
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The crime statistics were released yesterday by police minister Fikile Mbalula in parliament.
“There were 52 murders, 109 rapes and 46 hijacking victims every day in South Africa,” said Mbhele.
The latest crime stats show that:
Mbhele said poor training, under-staffing, under-resourcing and under-equipping of the police – combined with the crisis in the crime intelligence division -all contributed to the rise in crime.
“This, combined with poor leadership, low professionalism and weak accountability in the police service all mean that the SAPS is unable to get a grip on and successfully bring crime down,” Mbhele said.
Even more terrifying was that far too many South Africans have reason to fear the police, he said.
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“Police minister Fikile Mbalula is ultimately responsible for the allocation of SAPS resources. It is up to him to tell us what concrete plans he has to address this national crisis.”
The DA also doubted whether the statistics were a true reflection of the level of crime in South Africa.
“Research points to the under-reporting and under-recording of crimes.”
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