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Crime stats: Are sexual offences really decreasing?

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The South African Police Service today released the crime statistics for the past year. Among the most contested issues in the reported statistics was the data on sexual assault.

The statistics showed that there was a 4.5% decrease of sexual offences in the 2016/2017 financial year. These statistics were solely based on reported cases.

Lieutenant-General Lesetja Mothiba highlighted issues such as the lack of reporting regarding crimes such as domestic abuse and sexual assaults. He said, at times, victims faced family pressure or “historic backgrounds” that deterred them from reporting crimes.

He added that the police found the cooperation of non-governmental organisations (NGOs) valuable as they “play a very critical role”.

Sexual offences in this report was a broad category that included rape, sexual assault, attempted sexual offences and contact sexual offences. Rape was reported to have dropped by 4% while sexual assault increased by 0.9%.

In a provincial breakdown, the statistics revealed that reported cases of sexual offences increased in Gauteng by 0.6% and in North West by 3.9%.

Sexual offence crimes were one of the four types of crimes considered as an indicator of the effectiveness of police, in which the percentage was meant to increase, according to Police Minister Fikile Mbalula.

Africa Check cited the Institute for Security Studies which warned that “the rape statistics recorded by the police cannot be taken as an accurate measure of either the extent or trend of this crime”.

Sexual Offences Provincial Overview. Picture: Twitter/@SAPoliceService
Rape Provincial overview. Picture: Twitter/@SAPoliceService
Sexual Assault Trend over nine year period. Picture: Twitter/@SAPoliceService
Rape Trend over nine year period. Picture: Twitter/@SAPoliceService

Mbalula slammed the “lazy efforts” of police to curb crimes that were indicative of police effectiveness.

“The crimes that are considered as indicators of the effectiveness of police activities, these are crimes detected as a result of police action, experienced a reversal from a decrease of 0.3% in the preceding financial year to an increase of 9.6%,” said Mbalula.

“This increase is too small and indicative of the lazy efforts by the police to detect such crime, in order to make South Africa a safer place to live in. Police, in this instance, are letting our people down and I am here to stop it,” he said.

He reiterated that there should be a more aggressive approach when dealing with criminals.

“Our language must be clear and understood”.

The statistics analysis showed that alcohol, drugs and firearms played a major role in the incidence of crime committed in the past financial year and previous years.

Mbalula committed that his office was strengthening its capacity to respond to crimes.

“We have re-launched specialised units to focus on drugs, rape, violent threats and violent criminals.

“We have a drop in sexual violence, but we have more and more pictures of our women going missing. People must feel the drop in crime where they live,” he said.

He conceded that the police had a lot of work to do when dealing with sexual offence cases.

“We need to support the initiatives of women coming out if they’ve been violated but equally build the courage for them to come forward and be protected.”

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