Durban — KwaZulu-Natal Premier Nomusa Dube-Ncube has called on police in the province to intensify the fight against gender-based violence and brazen criminals.
Dube-Ncube issued a statement after Police Minister Bheki Cele released the quarter two crime statistics for 2022/23.
Following a spike in rape and murder cases in parts of KZN, Dube-Ncube has, on behalf of the provincial government, called on the police force to intensify their crime-fighting efforts in all identified hotspots to stem the tide of violent crimes in the province.
“Inanda police station in KZN, Mthatha in the Eastern Cape and Delft in the Western Cape are the three top stations with the highest rape cases,” Cele said.
“Inanda and uMlazi police stations in KwaZulu-Natal and Nyanga station in the Western Cape registered the highest counts of murder during this period.”
Cele said also said that “961 of the reported murders in KwaZulu-Natal were as a result of firearms, followed by Gauteng with 768 murders”.
“KZN recorded the highest number of multiple murders, followed by Gauteng and the Western Cape.”
After analysing the province’s crime statistics, Dube-Ncube said: “The provincial executive council is deeply concerned about the grim picture painted by the latest crime statistics, which indicate that rape and murder cases have soared by 9.9% and 6.5% respectively in KwaZulu-Natal when compared to the previous financial year.
“It is also very disturbing that many women are raped or murdered by people they know and trust. We are encouraged that the province will receive a deployment of over 2 000 additional police officers during the festive season, which will result in improved police visibility and crime intelligence gathering using modern technology to effectively thwart criminal syndicates.”
Dube-Ncube directed the Justice, Crime Prevention and Security Cluster led by Transport, Community Safety and Liaison MEC Sipho Hlomuka to present an urgent turnaround plan that will proactively deal with the identified problem areas with a view to implementing immediate solutions.
“We will not allow criminals to turn parts of our province into a murder and rape capital of South Africa. Ensuring an organised approach to crime prevention through stronger collaboration between police, crime-fighting structures and civil society must form part of the province’s intervention turnaround plan in order to put an end to the rising crime scourge in our province.
“The fact that contact crimes including heinous acts of murder, sexual offences and rape have increased means that we have to intensify our efforts to rid our society of all forms of criminality. It cannot be business as usual when our province is leading in various crime categories,” Dube-Ncube said.
She did, however, welcome the 8.2% decrease in sexual assault crimes but stressed that more work needs to be done.
Dube-Ncube also thanked police in the province and all safety structures that continue to play an active role in fighting crime but added that greater, concerted efforts by the government, police and civil society were critical to enhance initiatives aimed at preventing and combating crime.
Daily News