Third-quarter crime statistics, which were released by Police Minister Bheki Cele on Friday, have revealed a decrease in house robberies and hijackings in KwaZulu-Natal.
According to the stats, house robberies decreased by 9.2% – from 1 627 in October to December 2022 to 1 478 in the same period last year. Hijackings decreased by 17.6% – from 1012 cases reported in 2022 to 834 in 2023.
However, the crime stats also revealed that truck hijackings in the province had increased by 12 cases and were up from 25 incidents in 2022 to 37 in 2023.
Isipingo Community Policing Forum (CPF) chairperson Aidan David said that due to grim statistics in the previous quarter, initiatives had been taken by residents and security companies to combat crimes that were of concern.
David said the Isipingo CPF belonged to a group called Polsec that was created by a member of the SAPS and overseen by eThekwini district commissioner Major-General Vukani Mgobhozi.
He said Polsec had become an active crime fighting group in eThekwini.
“This group has made carjackings and other serious and violent crimes decrease dramatically because of the strong partnership between the community, security companies and SAPS,” he said.
David called for more members of the community to become participants in the fight against crime in the province, adding that more needed to be done to deal with crimes of passion and incidents of gender-based violence.
Darryl Oliver, who is in charge of public relations for the Durban North and uMhlanga CPF, said that stats overall for Q3 2022 and 2023 were mostly similar in his areas.
Oliver said there was a marked increase in other serious crimes, such as shoplifting, fraud, and commercial crime, which on the whole were crimes that could not always be prevented by direct policing.
“The increase in burglary (residential) was noted, and has already been addressed in our community safety plans,” he said.
He added that the increase in burglaries was most likely linked to higher load shedding levels, which resulted in security measures not working as expected, as well as opportunistic crime where valuables were visible, and doors and windows were left open and were easily accessible.
KZN violence monitor Mary de Haas said while the statistics showed decreases, nothing meaningful could be drawn from three months of statistics in terms of trends.
She said it was important to note that crime usually went up and down, and that the stats needed to be compared to several years of data before conclusions could be drawn as to whether there were upward or downward trends.
“Under-reporting is also common with house robberies as police have been known to be unco-operative, such as asking if it is necessary for insurance.
“If someone breaks in and stolen goods are not of major value or insured, people may not bother (to report them) as it is difficult enough to get serious crimes investigated,” De Haas said.
Sharon Hoosen, MPL and DA KZN spokesperson on community safety and liaison, said the latest crime statistics showed an increase in sexual assaults.
“The statistics also show that nothing has changed for the people of KZN, who continue to be exposed to horrific levels of crime.
“In recent months, we have experienced entire families being wiped out by gunmen invading their homes, innocent people caught in the crossfire as taxi wars rage, and the scourge of politically motivated killings that remain a constant threat as we head towards the 2024 elections.”
The Mercury