Just a week ago the Minister of Police General Bheki Cele
and the National Commissioner Gen Fanie Masemola
presented the crime stats to the Nation. I must say the
picture does not look good in terms of numbers for the
crime collected during the 3
rd Quarter and Limpopo is not
different from the country as whole, however for the
Province it is not a hope less situation as National Crime
stats pointed very clearly that we the only Province
deemed to be safe when it comes to murder.
We owe it to the people of this Province to create a safe
and secure environment in which all citizens leave in
peace and harmony, without any fear of any crime. This is
an obligation bestowed by the Constitution of the Republic
of South Africa. We have do this by any legal means
possible,whether we have to sleep in the streets of this
province we have to. Ladies and Gentlemen our job
require an ongoing systematic and strategic planning,
including vigorous monitoring of implementation of
detailed strategic focus and constant evaluation of our
operations deliverables. It also requires a multi-faceted
approach and participation by everyone, either directly or
indirectly.
This is an exercise that shouldn’t be taken lightly and
obscured by short-term thinking and a belief that the
problem of crime will be solved overnight and that it is the
sole responsibility of the Police to prevent or solve it. This
is an ongoing exercise that requires time and constant
adjustments, changes and adaptations. What worked
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yesterday might not work today and we cannot always be
able to solve today’s challenges with yesterday’s
solutions. We need to adapt to the activities of the day and
keep up with the new technology and the needs of the
rapidly growing community and businesses, creating a
water tight environment that would not allow gaps and
divisions between the police and community because such
gaps may allow criminals to take advantage of the broader
community and victimize them. We therefore require the
active involvement of the citizenry to win this battle against
crime.
We need to establish our role in crime prevention and
detection as a society, take charge of our own safety and
adjust accordingly, at the same time our foot soldiers on the
ground need to display a character of a true servant having
the interest of the community at heart and desist from any
corrupt activities. I`m calling for the man and women in blue
of this province to prioritize the community interest above
their own interest.
3
rd Quarter Crime Stats
Thank you once again for the opportunity to present the
Limpopo Provincial Crime Statistics for the 3rd quarter of
2022/2023 financial year. Today’s statistics reflects the
crimes or cases recorded by the police between the 1st
October 2022 and 31st December 2022 in comparison with
the cases recorded in the same period the previous
financial year.
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Mob justice/vigilantism related crimes
Ladies and gentlemen, the Province still experiences a
number of incidents related to vigilantism in which people
take the law into their own hands. These often lead to
destruction of properties and in some instances, people get
killed or injured. We have however recorded a decline in
murder cases in the period under review with a total
decrease of 9.3% as compared to 16.6% and a decrease of
7.4% on attempted murder for the same quarter of
2021/2022 financial year.
I must mention that, out of 263 Murders recorded in the 3rd
quarter, 48 were as a result of mob-justice as compared to
51 cases during the same period.
Furthermore, mob justice has contributed to 7 cases of
Attempted Murder and 26 of Assault GBH.
This decline in Murder cases can be attributed to our
heightened operations and enhanced investigative
capacity. During this period under review, 202 people were
arrested for Murder, 101 for Attempted Murder, 2453 for
Assault GBH and 1730 for Assault Common.
Sexual Offences (GBV)
On contact sexual offence we saw a decrease of -28%
On the other hand, the Province has experienced an overall
increase of 21.3% in Sexual Offences, with Rape
increasing by 20.6% in which 1 198 people were raped as
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compared to 993 that were raped during the same quarter
of the previous year. Ladies and gentlemen, the success in
preventing of Sexual Offences and GBVF related cases is
largely dependent on the implementation of social crime
prevention strategies inclusive of
A multi-disciplinary Crime awareness initiative
A multi-disciplinary approach in dealing with the social
fabric of our society with emphasis on moral regeneration,
with need to be serious about ensuring that our institution
and programs not only victim centric but also focus to the
offender or perpetrator through the rehabilitation means
available above all we need a community that is sensitive
to GBV blowing the whistle without looking away. We need
to continuously teach our boys and girls to run from toxic
relationships.
MEC and members of the media our conventional policing
also has some limitations given that some of these crimes
are committed behind closed doors. Be as it is the
investigations conducted by our Family Violence, Child
Protection and Sexual Offences Units (FCS) across the
Province, continue to yield meaningful results as we
constantly unmask several thugs with serial rapist traits.
That is evident that from the ongoing trial of Dube the serial
murderer in Seshigo could not achieve his target of
murdering 15 woman as his mission was cut shot.
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From O1 October to 31 December 2022, 267 suspects were
arrested for Rape cases.
During the same period 16 accused were given 21 life
sentences for Sexual Offences cases.
10 accused were sentenced to 20 years and above with a
total of 235 years behind bars.
Furthermore, we recorded a 40% decrease in both Robbery
of Cash in Transit (CIT) and Truck Hijacking. This is a
significant achievement considering the fact that this
happened during the festive season and this is usually a
time when a lot of these crimes happen.
In addition, we are equally pleased of the hard work of our
police officers who managed to confiscate 161 firearms
and 1508 ammunition, and arrested 1199 suspects on
drug related cases.
Ladies and gentlemen, I must mention that liquor remains
one of the major contributing factors in contact crimes. Our
members have once again heightened their operations to
enforce compliance with liquor legislation and also take
decisive action against non-compliance
