By Mark Ogagan
Half of the 10 police stations that recorded most murders in South Africa are located in Cape Town.
They are Philippi East with 74 murders followed by Delft with 68, Nyanga, 64, Mfuleni, 58, and Gugulethu with 55.
These figures were released by South Africa Police Minister, Senzo Mchunu for the second quarter of the 2024/2025 financial year, from July 1 to September 30, 2024.
Nationally, there were 6 545 murders, 12 765 sexual offences and 42 721 cases of assault with the intent to inflict grievous bodily harm over this three month period.
Reacting to the statistics, GOOD Party’s City of Cape Town councillor, Jonathan Cupido criticised the City of Cape Town’s “army of Law Enforcement Advancement Plan (LEAP) officers” as being of little effect to the persistently high crime figures in the city.
“Cape Town still has five of the 10 police stations that recorded the most contact crimes in the country. Khayelitsha saw the highest spike in the country, with an additional 109 crimes reported, a total of 820 crimes reported at the station in 3 months.
“Cape Town also makes up 5 of the top 10 police stations that recorded the most murders. The Cape Town stations that feature account for a combined 319 murders in just 3 months.
“People in the Cape Flats live in constant fear because of gang violence.
Out of the 221 gang-related murders reported nationally in 3 months, 177 occurred in the Western Cape. Clearly the number of boots on the ground is not having the desired impact on crime in the city,” said Cupido.
He said the root cause of crime needed to be addressed.
Safety and security Mayco member, JP Smith said the latest crime statistics were encouraging, with gains in a number of Cape Town’s crime hotspots.
“Not only has serious crime dropped in areas like Delft, Nyanga and Mitchells Plain, but crimes dependent on police action like the recovery of contraband, narcotics and illegal firearms have increased.
“This is a feather in the cap of the officers who do daily patrols in some of our most crime-ravaged areas. The Philippi policing precinct, which includes Hanover Park, had the highest number of firearms recovered (60), with Manenberg in 3rd (54).
“Philippi East remains a concern, particularly around the rate of murders and car-jacking incidents; so too the increase in robberies in Cape Town Central and Bishop Lavis. These statistics will guide future interventions and the City will work closely with SAPS and the Western Cape Government to determine how our efforts need to be augmented.”
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