Africa-Press – South-Africa. Police Minister Bheki Cele says calls by South Africans for police to decisively deal with crime are “not falling on deaf ears”.
This, as it emerged on Friday that there had been a 10.1% increase in murders between October and December 2022, to 7 555.
On Friday, Cele released the crime statistics for the third quarter of the current financial year.
“The calls by South Africans on the police to decisively deal with crime are loud, and they are clear. I stand here before you this afternoon, supported by the full contingent of the SAPS management, to say these calls by South Africans are not falling on deaf ears,” he told a media briefing on Friday.
Almost half of those murdered were killed with a firearm, while a large proportion were killed with other weapons such as knives, sharp and blunt instruments, and bricks.
“It is clear, a broader conversation must be had about what is at the heart of violent crime in the country,” Cele said.
“With the analysis of the current and previous statistics, it is quite evident that firearms are only part of a bigger problem. At the core of the matter is human behaviour. We have to be honest as South Africans about the causes of violence and address them.”
Cele said the high rates of unemployment and poverty levels, as well as the mushrooming of informal settlements with little to no services, and other socio-economic ills, were breeding criminality.
He said:
He added that police would continue to intensify intelligence-led operations to “take down individuals or organised criminals hell-bent on terrorising communities”.
“Police are also cleaning house and ridding the service of officers who choose to partner with rogue criminal elements.”
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In the current financial year, 46 police officers had been dismissed for various transgressions, Cele said.
“With that said, we know and understand that police alone will not be able to drive out criminality on our streets, in our alleyways, in our homes, schools and places of leisure and worship. We call on communities to take charge and be allies in safety.
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