Slight drop in murder rate ‘not a victory for SAPS’ - Cele
Police Minister Bheki Cele admitted a second consecutive drop in the country's murder rate is not a victory for the South African Police Service.
Cele delivered the crime statistics for the second quarter of the year on Friday.
The data, which covers crimes that were reported between July and September, shows a 0,7% decrease in reported quarterly murders compared to the previous quarter.
Cele says the decrease in the murder rate is due to the SAPS’s continued efforts to combat crime through decisive police action and robust community involvement.
"While there are green shoots, one murder is one too many," he said.
"We believe the declines are as a result of a combination of operational policing strategies as well as policy interventions, that we are seeing an improvement in crime.
Over and above ongoing policing operations, we know this administration has gone to lengths to capacitate critical units of the police service in order to keep communities safer.
“This includes the overhauling and strengthening of the management of the Crime Intelligence division, drastically improving the crime detection capabilities of the police.
“Crime Intelligence capacity has also been strengthened at the Top 30 crime-heavy police stations.
“The Intelligence officers have also been supplied with adequate resources, including vehicles and other tools of trade to gather intelligence," said Cele.
Cele said the double-digit percentage decrease in murders reported in KwaZulu-Natal and Limpopo provinces was encouraging.
"This is despite KZN experiencing numerous mass shootings, claiming three or more lives at a time.
“While the Inanda and Umlazi police stations, which have previously reported the highest murders in the country, are still leading in this crime, they have reported decreases in murders during this reporting period.
“The Eastern and Northern Cape provinces also saw slight drops in incidents of murder during this reporting period.
“This is despite the fact that the Eastern Cape, too, has recorded multiple shooting incidents fuelled by drug and vigilante-related motives.
“Five provinces, namely Mpumalanga, Gauteng, Western Cape, Free State, and the North West recorded increases in murders," said Cele.
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