Gauteng shows uptick in murders in 3rd quarter of 2021/2022 : Mawela

Gauteng Provincial Commissioner, Elias Mawela, says 243 more people were killed in Gauteng between 1 October and 31 December last year compared to the 2020/2021 reporting year. He says this is the highest increase in the last five years.

Mawela was briefing the Gauteng Legislature Portfolio Committee on Community Safety on the 3rd Quarter provincial Crime Statistics in Sandton north of Johannesburg.

He also updated Members of Provincial Legislatures on the Rosettenville shooting on Monday.

Mawela says one more suspect has been arrested for the shooting, bringing to 12 the number of suspects arrested so far. Five are still reported to be on the run.

Overall crime declines

Overall, crime in Gauteng decreased by 3.1% as reflected in the 17 community-reported crimes. However, murder, attempted murder, car and truck hijacking and arson recorded the highest cases.

Mawela says out of the 1 570 people who were killed, 189 were women while 37 of them were children. He says the phenomenon of multiple murders where more than one victim is killed in one incident contributed to this.

“Gauteng had 18 dockets of murder registered with 50 victims and that has contributed to more accumulated counts of murder during this quarter. Examples of the incidents of multiple murders that occurred during the quarter under review happened in Kagiso and Laudium. In Kagiso, seven people were killed and five injured by a group of armed balaclava-clad men. This incident happened at a house close to where there was a wedding; consequently, people who also attended the wedding were also affected.”

Gauteng Provincial Commissioner Elias Mawela briefs media on the province’s crime statistics: 

Both assaults with intent to do grievous bodily harm and common assault contributed over 51% of overall contact crimes in Gauteng. These two crimes alone recorded 23 917 counts out of 46 221 total counts for the contact crime category.

Carjacking increased by 20.4%, and truck hijacking increased by 18.9%.

“Kidnappings are most prevalent in all five districts, as they all have shown a significant increase. Hijackings are the leading motive for this crime in the province as 523 cases of kidnappings reported during this period resulted from the hijackings.”

Gauteng contributed 27.7% of overall crime in SA in this quarter.

Minister Bheki Cele released the statistics last week: 

Mawela says this is concerning.

“It is still very high. We doing our level best to reduce it. Hence we are focusing on these top 40 police stations because those are the biggest contributors.  In Gauteng, we have 143 police stations. But 40 police stations, they contribute over 50% of the crime. So clearly if we can reduce crime in those 40 police stations it means that the volumes will go down in Gauteng.”

Sexual offences went down by 7.3% – or 243 counts less, compared to the same period in the 2020/2021 reporting year. Cash-In-Transit heists decreased by 29.0%.