Crime stats: On average, three people are murdered in the Free State daily

Issued by Karabo Khakhau – DA MPL
12 Sep 2019 in Press Statements

The Free State province remains a comfortable crime hub for criminals, while women and children remain victims of various sexual offences with 2.7 people getting murdered every day.

In the Free State sexual offences have increased by 36.8% from 3284 in the 2017/18 financial year to 3457 in the 2018/19 financial year, and is the crime that is most underreported

This is enabled by a lack of the necessary resources and capacity from government to combat sexual offences. Politicians in government pay lip service to women’s rights while women and children in the Free State remain victims of an uncaring government and a patriarchal society.

Research by the Institute for Security Studies and other reports indicate that in South Africa 90% of rapes go unreported, this then implies that over 25 000 rapes really take place in the Free State annually, amounting to more than 70 per day and almost 3 per hour. Another perturbing statistic is that less than 15% of accused people in rape cases are taken to trial and only 5% are convicted.

The DA is concerned by the latest crime statistics released by the SAPS. Figures indicate that crime in the province continues to grow and in some cases exceeds the national rate. Major areas of concern include sexual assault which grew by 18.9% compared to 9.6% nationally, attempted sexual offences which grew by 13.1% compared to 3.9% nationally and truck hijacking which grew by 21.9% compared to a drop of 1.7% nationally. The DA welcomes the fact that murder is down from 1 054 in 2017/18 financial year to 1 000 In the 2018/19 financial year showing a 5.1% drop, however every murder that takes place is one too many.

Instead of spending money on costly events that serve egos and political agendas, politicians in government should rather be spending money on improving the safety and security of residents in the Free State and improving our criminal justice system.