Tanya Waterworth & Frank Chemaly
Durban - As South Africans were waiting on a knife-edge yesterday to see if Covid-19 regulations would be eased, national Police Minister Bheki Cele presented a rosy picture of lockdown crime levels.
Cele, releasing the quarterly crime statistics covering the lockdown period April to June, said they painted “a never-seen-before rosy picture of a peaceful South Africa experiencing a crime holiday”.
And in a week when there has been widespread speculation on whether the booze and cigarette bans would be lifted going into lockdown level 2, Cele noted that South Africans needed to have a “frank and open discussion about alcohol”.
In a question and answer session with the media after the briefing, Cele said South Africa was ranked 6th in the world for binge drinking.
“We need massive education when it comes to drinking patterns in this country. We are number six in binge drinking in the whole world,” he said.
When asked about a possible easing of the lockdown, Cele said the Cabinet would meet today about that.
The statistics included crimes committed during lockdown levels 5 to 3, with significant decreases in the strict lockdown level 5 and incidents increasing again as lockdown eased.
Over the period which coincided with lockdown, murder was down 35.8% with 3466 cases compared with 5398 for the April to June period last year. Attempted murder was down 39.7% with 7296 cases from 12094; rape was down 40.4% with 5805 cases from 9737, assault with intent to cause grievous bodily harm was down 41% with 22064 from 37425. Robbery with aggravating circumstances went down 19.5% with 21599 cases from 35705; and carjacking decreased 41.2% with 2677 cases from 4550.
KwaZulu-Natal is still the most violent province, claiming the highest number of murders and the second-highest number of rapes and cases of assault GBH. In many crime categories it saw the lowest reduction of all the provinces.
KZN recorded 856 murders during the three-month period, down 30.8%, higher than next placed Gauteng with 675, down 42.5%.
KZN also has the second-highest number of cases of attempted murder - at 792, down 20.1%. It experienced a 35.3% decline in assault GBH, down to 3934 from 6082, second only to Gauteng. Rape fell by 39.9% with 1160 cases down from 1930, second to Gauteng with 1170.
For robbery with aggravating circumstances, KZN was third with a 33.9% reduction, and 3803 cases. Carjacking was down 49.9% with 391 cases from 781. The province had no cash in transit robberies.
One of the few crime categories to spike during lockdown was burglary at non-residential premises, with schools and liquor outlets hard hit. KZN experienced a 29% hike, with 3306 cases from 2563, overtaking the Western Cape and second to Gauteng. The province had the highest number of schools robbed at 651, compared with 607 in Gauteng and 327 in the Eastern Cape.
There was a surge in the number of break-ins at bottle stores, with 270 in the Western Cape, 228 in Gauteng and 224 in KZN.
The number of drunk driving convictions plummeted nationwide, down 85.5% with 3168 arrests from 21853. Drug-related crime also dropped by 53% with 18767 cases from 39964.
Cele said the reduction in crime was not only due to the alcohol ban, but also to people staying in their homes and high-visibility policing including the army, police and metro police.
Close to 300000 people were arrested during that period for breaking lockdown regulations and which could result in a criminal record for all those arrested, but Cele said the Minister of Justice was currently looking into this matter.
The Independent on Saturday