Crime trends have shown that more criminal activities occur during the
festive season and decrease around mid-year, the time the country is
expected to host the 2010 FIFA World Cup.
As unveiled by the South African Police Service (SAPS), the trends reveal
that most crimes - especially social contact crime - occur on weekends with
perpetrators mostly influenced by liquor.
National Police Commissioner Jackie Selebi said he did not have "sleepless
nights" about how crime would affect the 2010 FIFA World Cup because the
statistics show that this type of incidents were low during that period.
He said the police already knew how many people were expected in the country
for the tournament, where they would sleep, the routes they would travel on
and the places likely to be visited.
In this context, Mr. Selebi highlighted that the statistics revealed that
most crimes were taking place especially in townships rather than places
such as hotels and stadiums where most of the visitors would be during the
world cup.
"We know where the people are going to stay, the routes they are going to
use and the stadiums they will go to. These things are easy to police," he
said.
"In June 2010, nobody is going on leave. There will be additional police
officers and reservists. We also have the June period where crime is at the
lowest so for me it means that we will succeed if we work in a way we said
we will do."
Mr. Selebi warned that it was important to note, especially when talking
about crime and the 2010 FIFA World Cup, that police had planned already on
how to deal with crime in general not primarily the event in particular.
"The statistics are not saying crime is taking place in Loftus Versveld, nor
do they say at Ellis Park nor Green Point in Cape Town, they say
Khayelitsha...So if we say we will concentrate on the things we say we will
do, it says to me that we can host that world cup without a lot of
problems," he said.
The statistics provided the basis for the police to deal with crime
tendencies when and where they emerged, he said.
This means that the police would channel more resources to areas identified
as experiencing more criminal incidents across the country.
According to the national commissioner's assessment of the statistics, there
are three provinces in the country that need more attention in terms of
resource allocation as they account for about 62 percent of serious crimes
nationally.
Mr Selebi said although there were specific locations across the country
that had high incidents of crime, he was also concerned about levels of
serious crime in Gauteng, KwaZulu-Natal and the Western Cape.
"So whatever we do, these provinces must have the advantage of resources
over the others," he said.
Already, he said, Gauteng had received about 400 additional police officers
and KwaZulu-Natal 370 - following an agreement at the SAPS management
meeting in February this year that there be additional resources in these
provinces considering the number of crime incidents there.
This would go a long way in increasing police visibility in these areas to
ensure that incidents of house robberies are minimised as these crimes have
the potential to lead to other incidents such as murder and rape.
In this regard, he noted that there were high levels of such crimes in new
residential areas, citing the Garsfontein suburb of Pretoria as an example.
"There are higher levels of crime in Garsfontein than you would have in
Attridgeville. This is because there is no social cohesion there and people
don't know each other because everybody is new," he said.
This, he explained, made it difficult for residents in such suburbs to
notice criminals in their midst.
Safety and Security Minister Charles Nqakula said he wondered what aspects
of crime people thought would affect the 2010 FIFA World Cup.
"Nobody has ever told me what the connection is here [between crime and
2010]. Is it the general crime that is happening is South Africa that
worries us?
"When we say crime and 2010 - the crime that we are reporting about here
today -to what extent is for instance, social crime - which happens in
shebeens between people who know each other - [going to affect the world
cup]," he asked.
Commenting of the crime statistics, the minister noted that contact crime
decreased by three percent, below the 7-10 percent target set by government
in this category.
Compared with the previous year, decreases in six out of eight categories of
contact crimes brought about an overall decrease of 3, 4 percent in 2006/07
compared with the 2005/06 financial year.
Common assault is down 8,7 percent, common robbery is down 5,8 percent,
indecent assault is down 5,5 percent, rape is down 5,2 percent, assault with
intent to do grievous bodily harm (GBH) is down 4,9 percent and attempted
murder is down 3 percent.
However, despite the overall decrease, there has been an increase in two
categories: aggravated robbery and murder, which went up by 4, 6 percent and
2, 4 percent respectively.
Police did point out that the rise of 2, 4 percent in the incidence of
murder can be explained by the 4, 6 percent hike in aggravated robbery, a
crime in which firearms are invariably used.
THE National Prosecuting Authority (NPA) has already started working with
other law enforcement agencies to ensure the safety of visitors to the
country during the 2010 Soccer World Cup and to ensure that there are no
delays in prosecutions that might involve visitors.
NPA spokesman Panyaza Lesufi said the authority would boost its capacity to
match increases in other enforcement agencies' numbers.
"By 2010, the number of police officers would have increased, and there are
likely to be more arrests, which will require a corresponding increase in
our capacity," Lesufi said. Police aim to increase the number of their
personnel to 190000 by 2010.
Lesufi said the NPA was working with police and the home affairs department
to ensure delays in processing cases in the host cities were minimal.
Police had comprehensive plans to ensure visitors were safe and obeyed the
laws of the land during the World Cup. These included a dedicated police
station in each host city modified to accommodate separate holding cells.
These stations would have court rooms for speedy judgments and home affairs
offices for deportations.
Lesufi said the NPA's 2020 strategy, which is the organisation's plan to
deal with bringing down crime levels in the country, would involve an
extensive training programme for prosecutors and a considerable increase in
their salaries.
By working closely with police, the NPA could decide quicker whether or not
there was a case to prosecute. "For an example, if we get a case of public
drinking, we will take a short time to decide if the accused has a case to
answer," Lesufi said.
During a presentation on national crime statistics last week, the police
said they could ensure the safety of spectators, players and officials for
the showpiece.
Police commissioner Jackie Selebi said the police knew how many people were
expected for the World Cup, where they would sleep, routes they would travel
on and places they were likely to visit. Selebi said police had a plan to
monitor those places to ensure the visitors were safe during the period.
Although the country has hosted sporting events such as the cricket and the
rugby world cups in the past, the previous events were not as big as the
Soccer World Cup.
