Police Minister Bheki Cele says he is concerned about the rising trend of children as young as 12 years-old committing serious crimes such as rape and murder, often against other children. Cele led a delegation that met with Parliament’s Police Committee to discuss the latest crime statistics that were released last week.
According to the 2018/19 figures, murder has gone up by nearly 700 cases, bringing the total to 21 022.
Cele says this issue must be investigated. “On the new trends of why so many kids are dying and killed by kids, I think we need to find answers. Looking at figures we have, 13 year-olds arrested for murder, even 12 year-olds arrested for rape.”
The Chairperson of Parliament’s Police Committee, Tina Joemat-Pettersson, has called on the police to have concrete plans to fight crime, in particular violence against women. Sexual offences have spiked by more than 2000 bringing the total number to 52 422.
Police top brass discussed matters around the latest crime statistics released last week. Joemat-Pettersson says citizens are tired of talk shops and want real action.
“How do we fight the war, it is a war against women and children. Do we have to review legislation, is legislation sufficient? What is it that we can do? Our country is tired of talking; we want to see meaningful action.” Click below for more on crime statistics:
