DA welcomes decrease in crime in Western Cape

The Democratic Alliance (DA) in the Western Cape has welcomed the overall decrease in crime in the province –  particularly around detected sexual offenses, but remains deeply concerned that crime as a result of police action still shows no overall significant increase.

Police Minister Bheki Cele announced the national annual crime statistics on Friday.

DA Western Cape spokesperson on Community Safety, Reagan Allen, says they’ve repeatedly called on the Police Minister to beef-up police capacity in the province. He says these statistics have offered a sad reminder that the Minister has ignored the plea.

“The 2019/20 annual crime statistics show that three of the sub-categories under Crime as a Result of Police Action have increased. Unfortunately, the category as a whole showed a decrease of 14.5%. The category shows activities undertaken by SAPS to fight crime. Thus, overall, these categories must increase to show improvement in policing.”

Nyanga Police Station in Cape Town recorded a 36.0% decrease in murder for the first time in many years.

 Police Minister announces the crime stats:

KZN with the highest number of murders

Meanwhile, contact crimes including murder, robbery, and sexual offenses have increased by 0.7% in the country.

The murder rate has increased with 303 cases, to a total of just more than 21 000. Sexual offenses increased by 873, bringing the total to just over 53 000.

Out of all the nine provinces, KwaZulu-Natal recorded the highest number of murders, with an increase of 10.6% and also recorded an increase in sexual offenses.

Below is the full crime stats for 2019/2020:

Additional reporting by Zalene Merrington

Crime Statistics 2019 2020 (1) (Text)