Co-operation to beat crime

Safety and Security Minister Charles Nqakula

Larry Bentley

THE South African Police Service (SAPS) needs to work closely with communities and other government departments to address the social causes of crimes such as rape and murder in order to decrease their incidence, Safety and Security Minister, Charles Nqakula said last week.
These cases are very difficult to investigate because of the relationship between victims and perpetrators where levels of intimidation and family pressures are very high.
Nqakula said, ‘Many of the cases, consequently are withdrawn and do not reach court.’
An analysis of 9 623 dockets indicated that in 81,5 per cent of murders, the perpetrators were known to the victims and in 46 per cent of these cases the perpetrators were relatives, friends or acquaintances of the victims, said the Minister.
The figures are equally disturbing when dealing with serious and violent assaults.
Figures show that in 89,1 per cent of the cases, the perpetrator and victims knew each other, with 72,9 per cent being friends, relatives or acquaintances.
In more than three quarters of rape cases (75,9 per cent) perpetrators and victims knew each other, with more than half (57 per cent) being family, friends or acquaintances.

Anti-crime resources
‘At the core of this problem is the matter of alcohol and substance abuse.
‘We have determined that many of these crimes happen over weekends,’ Minister Nqakula said.
The government needs to work much closer with the affected communities than has been the case in the past.
The department has established partnerships, including with the South African Council of Churches to mobilise the people as anti-crime resources.
He said working with communities would help the police gather intelligence and stop the crimes before they happened.
In terms of law enforcement, sector policing would be instituted over the next six months in the 169 policing precincts where there were especially high incidences of contact crimes, which were those directed at physically harming people.
This visible policing would contribute to decreasing the crimes and would enable faster responses to ‘cries for help’ said the Minister.
There was already funding available towards increasing intelligence in this regard.

Priorities
Minister Nqakula said it was now a matter of re-prioritising the funding towards intelligence and increasing human resources.
Other government departments would co-operate with police on the issue of the social causes of crime, including the Department of Social Development and local government structures.
‘We are working with the Department of Housing as some of the informal settlements generate crime because of the way in which they are constructed.
‘There are no clearly demarcated streets where police can do their patrols, there is no lighting in the streets and there are no recreational facilities for young people,’ said the Minister.
The Macro Social trends report, commissioned by the Presidency’s Policy Co-ordination and Advisory Services, was released in June and concurs with the Minister’s comments on the nature of the social causes of contact crimes.
The majority of contact crimes were found to have occurred in areas where there was high unemployment, a proliferation of liquor outlets, an absence of recreational facilities and poor infrastructure including a lack of streets and lighting amongst others.
The report also found that most of the contact crimes occurred mainly during the festive season and on weekends, very often between people who knew one another, and close to liquor outlets.
Rape was strongly linked to drinking, mostly in the company of acquaintances, gang members, people who had been involved in criminal activity and at public drinking places such as shebeens, bottle stores and clubs.
‘Cabinet has endorsed a recommendation to commission a study on the matter of escalating violent crime by the Institute for the Study of Violence and Reconciliation,’ Minister Nqakula said.