By Caiphus Kgosana
There were 24 836 cases of rape reported in the country in the past year.
Crime statistics released yesterday show that reported sexual offences increased by 10 percent, but the police attribute this to changes in the Sexual Offences Act, which has introduced new categories of sexual crimes.
All forms of rape, including statutory rape and acts that were defined as attempted rape before the new act came into operation, accounted for 72 percent of all sexual offences reported during 2008/09.
Police Minister Nathi Mthethwa said specialised units to deal with sexual crimes, which had been shut down by the previous administration, would be reintroduced.
"The decision to close down special units that focused on some of these crimes has been reversed. The SAPS is looking at their reintroduction as directed by the ministry."
The most widely reported crimes are theft, house burglaries, assault, robbery with aggravating circumstances, malicious damage to property and theft from vehicles.
The statistics revealed that robberies at businesses, especially small enterprises and informal traders, increased by 41 percent, while house robberies were up by 27 percent.
According to the SAPS annual report, general dealers, butcheries and spaza shops accounted for 33,6 percent of all businesses targeted for robberies, while petrol stations and cellphone shops accounted for 20 percent.
Murders declined by 3,4 percent while attempted murder fell by 4,3 percent. Contact crimes accounted for 32 percent of all 2,1 million cases reported during this period.
On the rise were car hijackings (up five percent), truck hijackings (up 15,4 percent) and burglaries at residences.
Bank robberies declined by a significant 29,2 percent while cash-in-transit heists showed a decline of 2,9 percent. ATM bombings were down 10 percent.
Theft of vehicles decreased by 7 percent and theft out of vehicles fell by 3,6 percent.
But the Centre for the Study of Violence and Reconciliation has warned against pumping additional resources into fighting house robberies, business robberies and carjackings – dubbed the "trio" robberies – saying these did not significantly contribute to bringing down the murder rate.
Senior researcher David Bruce said the focus should rather be on combating armed violence – all crimes committed with guns and knives.
He said the tendency to focus on the trio robberies was because these were the crimes middle-class South Africans made the most noise about.
ID's Joe Mcgluwa said the increase in sexual offences was a worry.
"The increase in sexual offences… shows we still have a very long way to go to create a society where our women and children are safe."
Dianne Kohler-Barnard, the DA shadow minister of police, said business robberies, murder and commercial crimes had seen South Africa ranked by the World Economic Forum as the worst place to do business.
In IOL.
CSVR is a multi-disciplinary institute that seeks to understand and prevent violence, heal its effects and build sustainable peace at the community, national and regional levels.
