ACTIONSA believes that Mzansi needs a fundamental transformation of its police force to restore confidence and restore community safety.
This after Police Minister Bheki Cele announced that more than 6 000 people were murdered in the first three months of 2023, a 3,4% increase nationwide, and that 6 289 people were killed between January and March 2023, compared to 6 083 between January and March 2022.
Various organisations and political parties reacted to the crime stats results announced by Cele on Tuesday, 30 May.
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Following the release of the crime statistics, Amnesty International South Africa stated that the crime statistics continue to paint a bleak picture and that SAPS needs to be completely overhauled to be able to deal with the extremely high crime rate.
The total number of murders has increased by 28,5% since 2019.
"We can no longer allow violent crime to go unpunished. The justice system must act as a deterrent, and the first step is to ensure that police can conduct thorough, efficient and transparent investigations into all murders and that perpetrators are charged in accordance with the law," Mohamed said.
South African Federation of Trade Unions (Saftu) said that while they are alarmed and concerned about this increased crime rate, they are not surprised. The deteriorating socio-economic and political conditions in the country create a favorable environment in which theft, crime and violence can thrive.
“Unemployment is high at 42,9%, and 9,2 million young people between the ages of 15 and 34 years are Not in any form Employment, Education or Training (NEET). It is from these reserve armies of the unemployed and youth not in education and training that crime finds a pool of soldiers to steal livestock, shoplift, break into houses, and steal Eskom cables,” said Saftu.
According to ActionSA Herman Mashaba, the crime statistics released by Cele paint a bleak picture that the current approach of the police has simply not been able to turn around the criminal situation in the country and that South African communities are on their own.
“The crime stats indicate that despite minister's Cele populist rhetoric, violent crimes have increased by 4%, murders increased by 8,4% and assaults with the intent to inflict grievous bodily harm increased by 0,7%. Cele has now been minister of police for five years,” said Mashaba.
