5 June 2012
South Africa has seen an overall decrease in serious crime between 2010 and 2011, according to a government mid-term review report released in Pretoria last week.
The number of people affected by serious crime came down from approximately 3 800 to 3 600 per 100 000 of the population; this includes a decrease in murder, attempted murder, car-jackings and house robberies.
The report, released by Minister in the Presidency for Performance Monitoring and Evaluation Collins Chabane in Pretoria on Friday, reviews the progress made by the current administration at the November 2011 mid-point of its 2009-14 electoral term.
Committed to reducing crime
“We saw a marginal increase in business robberies,” Chabane reported.
Despite this, the overall progress in the outcome of crime and corruption was noteworthy. “We have witnessed an improvement in perceptions of the management of crime among citizens.
“The detection rates for contact and trio [assault, murder and rape] crimes have increased, with case backlogs decreasing.”
He added that the government was committed to ensuring that people were safe and felt safe in South Africa and to reducing the overall levels of serious crime, in particular contact and trio crimes.
With regards to combating corruption, Chabane said that between 2009 and 2011, over 1 500 people working in the criminal justice system had been investigated, 192 officials criminally charged, 86 convicted and a further 296 officials departmentally charged.
“Looking more broadly than the criminal justice system, 56 suspects with illegally obtained assets of more than R5-million have been investigated, 26 of whom have appeared in court,” Chabane said. “Assets worth R580-million of 19 individuals have been restrained.
“We have also witnessed 255 other corruption-related convictions between April 2011 and December 2011. The President has signed 23 presidential proclamations since 2009 for the Special Investigation Unit to investigate corruption cases.”
Source: BuaNews
