Responding to the release today (19 September 2013) of the SA Police Service crime statistics for 2012/13, Institute for Security Studies’ analyst Gareth Newham said the following:
- “Serious and violent crime is increasing in South Africa. This shows that government’s approach to crime is not working.”
- “After a long period of decreases in serious and violent crime, these are the worst figures we have seen in ten years.”
- “Reducing crime is not only a police responsibility. There is also an important role for other government departments such as health, education and social development.”
- “Violence remains unacceptably high and should be treated as a serious crisis which stands in the way of South Africa’s social and economic development.”
- “We have seen increases in murder, attempted murder, car hijacking, street robbery and house robbery. These are some of the crimes South Africans are most afraid of.”
- We understand that the police work under very difficult circumstances, and we applaud the many officers who work tirelessly to combat crime and to protect people and communities in South Africa.”
Gareth Newham is director of the Governance, Crime and Justice programme at the Institute for Security Studies.