Murder, kidnappings on the rise in Gauteng - Mawela
Gauteng police commissioner Elias Mawela says there has been an increase in the number of murder and kidnappings reported between April and June this year.
The province recorded 293 more murders compared to the previous quarter - an increase of 24.5%
Mawela briefed the Gauteng legislature’s Portfolio Committee on Community Safety on the crime statistics for the first quarter of the 2022/23 financial year.
"Out of 1 490 people who were killed, 155 of them were women and 50 were children. Furthermore, a total of 34 cases of murder registered during the same period were related to domestic violence where female victims were 18 and male victims were 16, "Mawela told MPLs.
Mawela said the province continues to experience multiple murders in one incident, resulting in a high number of murders of which for the period under review is 75 case dockets with 175 victims.
He said the province has also observed a significant rise in kidnapping incidents.
In the first quarter, 1 100 more incidents of kidnappings were reported as compared to the same period in the last financial year.
"Hijackings remain the top causative factor as reflected by an analysis from a sample of 1 902 cases of kidnappings were 1 113 of those resulted from hijackings. Hijackings are followed by robbery related with 242, taxi-related with 110, retaliation/revenge with 83 and rape-related with 81," said Mawela.
Mawela also raised concerns about “anti-foreigner sentiments” that remain a threat to stability in the province.
"This threat requires a focused and aggressive social cohesion programme to mitigate. Lastly, social ills such as substance abuse, moral degeneration and socio-economic factors continue to be the underlying causative factors of contact crimes.
These structural problems require a structured approach by all stakeholders to discourage people from committing crimes.
“The unfavourable environmental design of some areas, mostly townships and informal settlements continues to make it difficult for the police to access those areas and does affect the police response time to complaints or emergency situations.”
SEE FULL REPORT BELOW:
Gauteng Crime statistics - 1st Quarter (April 2022 to June 2022) - Short version (2).pdf by anastasi mankese mokgobu on Scribd
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