Police need more resources to fight crime, says Popcru

The country’s largest union representing the police, traffic officers and prison officials has bemoaned the latest crime statistics and questioned the police’s capacity in crime-fighting efforts and whether enough resources were being channelled to the country’s more than 1,000 police stations. 

The crime statistics for the first quarter of 2024/25, released by police minister Senzo Mchunu on Friday, revealed 6,198 murders, 11,566 sexual offences and 9,309 rapes have occurred from April to June. 

A total of 6,867 attempted murders, 42,858 common assaults, 11,312 common robberies, 5,438 carjackings and truck hijackings, and 429 cash-in-transit heists occurred during the period under review. 

The Police and Prisons Civil Rights Union (Popcru) said the runaway crime levels in one of Africa’s largest economies reflected the “deep-rooted capacity challenges faced by our police officers across different communities, wherein despite being aware of the crime conditions, [they] are limited by the availability of resources to make any real interventions”. 

Business Day reported the numbers in the “Governance, Public Safety and Justice Survey — Victims of Crime Report”, released by Stats SA on Tuesday, are higher than the quarterly crime statistics released by the SA Police Service (SAPS) as the police statistics contain only reported crimes, whereas many crimes are not reported to the police. 

The aim of the victims of crime survey was to determine “the nature, extent and patterns of crime in SA from the victim’s perspective so as to inform the development of crime prevention and public education programmes”, Stats SA said. 

Service communities

The Stats SA survey shows there were about 1.5-million incidents of housebreaking in 2023/24 affecting 1.1-million households and about 1.4-million incidents of theft of personal property during the year, affecting 1.3-million individuals aged 16 years and older. 

Popcru national spokesperson Richard Mamabolo said the latest crime figures pointed “to the capacity of the SAPS and puts to question the extent within which resources are channelled to stations in ensuring they are able to service communities”. 

“We note with concern the crime trends in the country, which include murder of an average of 500 people per week, 129 incidents of sexual offences per day, robbery with aggravating circumstances with an average of 390 every day or 16 per hour, kidnapping for ransom payments and extortion,” Mamabolo said. 

“Ideally, crime statistics are supposed to serve as a tool with which to provide our law enforcement agencies with data for determining budgetary formulations, planning and the allocation of resources and police operations.” 

Popcru called on the criminal justice cluster (CJC) to address its “fragmented structures as it is currently operating in silos, with different departments operating differently while relying on each other’s inputs in conducting their mandated functions”. 

“There is a need to establish synergy between the department of correctional services, the SAPS and the judiciary, with the SAPS accounting for the arrests made, the judiciary accounting for the number of convictions and prosecutions, while the department of correctional services accounts for the number of incarcerations,” Mamabolo said. 

Halving rate

“This will assist in determining consolidated future budgets that should bring about a correlated approach within the CJC instead of the current continued situation wherein every department works blindly, and in isolation of one another.” 

Rise Mzansi MP and parliamentary caucus whip Makashule Gana said “to get a handle on runaway crime in the country [Mchunu] and the National Command need to focus their efforts on halving the murder rate over the next five years, working with all stakeholders, dealing with the social contributors of crime, particularly rape and murder, work with communities, academia and business, and upskilling and employing more detectives”. 

Gana commended Mchunu for making the “right noises”, saying: “He will have the support of Rise Mzansi in making SA a safe country for communities, businesses, and visitors. [His] areas of priority are a departure from the disastrous tenure of erstwhile police minister Bheki Cele.” 

ActionSA MP Dereleen James said: “It is essential to address the socioeconomic drivers of crime, which contribute to the high levels of violence across the country. Until these root causes are tackled, SA will continue to see the senseless loss of lives, particularly among women and children.”

James said with a strong leadership, “political willpower, and a clear strategy, we can turn the tide on crime and restore safety to our communities”.

DA MP and party spokesperson on police Ian Cameron said the crime stats “reveal an alarming rise in crimes against women and children, with sharp increases in murders, attempted murders and assaults being reported across the country”.

“Equally concerning is the sharp rise in commercial crimes and kidnappings, highlighting the urgent need for more effective interventions and better intelligence co-ordination.”

The spokesperson of the SA Federation of Trade Unions, Trevor Shaku, said: “The main cause for the high crime rates is the socioeconomic conditions which have deteriorated due to an economy that cannot create jobs, leaving more than 12.3-million people (the majority of whom are youth below the ages of 35) unemployed, and 13.8-million people living in abject poverty.

“The mass deprivation and lack of access to basic necessities has led to [people opting] for other means such as crime to make ends meet. This explains why most criminal activities are property related with car theft, stock theft, burglary and robbery.

“However, given the history of this society, racial prejudices and patriarchal gender roles contribute to other forms of crimes such as sexual violence and racist murders on farms.”

mkentanel@businesslive.co.za