Petty crime on the rise in lockdown
Fewer serious crimes had been reported over the past few weeks, even in industrial parts of the north such as Rosslyn.
Although roads in the north of Pretoria might be a lot quieter thanks to the national lockdown, there has been a rise in petty crime.
“Crime has dropped a lot in both the city and suburbs,” GAC Risk Solutions security company spokesperson Juan du Plessis told Rekord.
“There are, however, a few opportunistic thieves looking to make a quick buck.”
Du Plessis said fewer serious crimes had been reported over the past few weeks, even in industrial parts of the north such as Rosslyn.
“In general, cable theft was very high in this area [Rosslyn]. Since the lockdown started, it has dropped substantially.
He believed one of the reasons for this decline was because there was no opportunity to sell the cables.
“The rural and smallholding areas are not as quiet [as the suburbs], but the incidents reported are also petty crimes.”
He said as many as six incidents per night were reported of spaza shops being robbed, “fortunately there are no reports of liquor shops being looted yet”.
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“I am not aware of any house robberies or other aggressive robberies in the past few days. The roads are also quiet although there are still a lot of vehicles on the road who can’t all be essential [workers].”
Du Plessis urged the community to wear their masks and all other precautions during the lockdown period.
Recently GAC assisted with the Sassa withdrawals at various points in Soshanguve and noticed that “95% of residents weren’t wearing any masks or gloves”.
He thanked police officers and essential services working during this time and urged the public to stay at home.
Axon Security manager Henk Roodt also said petty crimes have been on the increase.
He said two vehicles were reported stolen in their area of operations during the lockdown period.
Both were, however, recovered thanks to a joint effort between security and tracking companies.
“Ambulance service emergency calls have dropped drastically during the lockdown,” Best Care ambulances services spokesperson Xander Loubser said.
“Motor vehicle accidents and assault reports have all dropped. Some days we had zero cases.”
Medical call-in rates have, however, picked up.
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“People believe they might have the coronavirus when they are sick with flu-like symptoms.”
Loubser said a specific medical response was needed in the fight against the spread of Covid-19, which is why his service invested in a specialised Covid-19 ambulance unit.
“With time on our hands, we decided to help disinfect people at shopping centres and screen their temperatures before they go in.”
On a national level, police minister Bheki Cele has reported a similar drop in serious and violent crimes.
Cele believed the drop was due to the prohibition on the sale and movement of liquor during the lockdown.
Comparing crime in the first week of the lockdown to the same period in 2019, Cele said murder cases had dropped from 326 to 94; rape cases from 699 to 101.
Cases of assault with intent to inflict grievous bodily harm dropped from 2 673 to 456; and “trio” crimes (car hijacking, business robberies) dropped from 8 853 to 2 098.
He said police received over 2 300 complaints from 27 to 31 March, and 148 suspects were charged.
Cele said there was also a drop in the number of complaints against the police during the lockdown.
“The decrease in the number of complaints, which were high over the first days of the lockdown, reflects stabilisation,” Cele said.
“It confirms that people are now beginning to understand the lockdown and are complying with the regulations.”
He added that national police, the SANDF, metro police and other law enforcement agencies would remain on high alert to ensure compliance with lockdown regulations.
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