Botswana couple murder Free State

Three SA suspects were arrested in Botswana. Photo: Adobe Stock

Police Crime Statistics Latest: Kidnapping spike in KZN

Kidnapping figures showed a major increase, especially in these three areas, according to th latest police data released on Friday.

Botswana couple murder Free State

Three SA suspects were arrested in Botswana. Photo: Adobe Stock

The release of the fourth quarter police crime statistics has shown that KwaZulu-Natal is a safe haven for criminals, rather than the people of the province.

This was the view of Sharon Hoosen, DA member of the provincial legislature and spokesperson on Community Safety and Liaison.

“ According to the figures, gender-based violence, kidnapping and murder have all increased exponentially, with three of the province’s SAPS stations included in the top 30 SAPS stations countrywide when it comes to murder and attempted murder,” Hoosen said.

The stations are Plessislaer SAPS which recorded a 69.8% increase in murder cases and Inanda and Umlazi SAPS which saw increases of 63% and 117.9% respectively.

Kidnapping figures in the province also show a major increase, with Umlazi reflecting a staggering 1 133% rise, Inanda recording a 33% increase and Durban Central recording a 157% rise. 

“Despite the fact that more people are going missing in KZN, there seems to be no intervention to find the root of the problem. KZN also reflects 14 times in the top 30 stations in the country with the highest number of stock theft cases,” Hoosen said.

“The people of our province have every right to expect some relief when it comes to crime, in particular gender-based crime. Yet the province also continues to see an increase in rape and sexual offences. Inanda and Umlazi SAPS in particular continue to reflect poorly, with an increase in cases of 4.5% and 9.2% respectively. This while the number of incidents countrywide continues to rise,” Hoosen said.

Hoosen said “nothing” was being done to combat the scourge of violence.

“SAPS remains short-staffed, SAPS vehicles remain in repairs for more than six months at a time, there remains a lack of training of SAPS officers remains unresolved and detectives are under-staffed, under-equipped and completely overloaded,” she said. 

Hoosen added that the well-documented DNA backlogs, which often lead to high arrest rates and low conviction rates also remained a challenge along with the slow police response to complaints. 

“It is clear that criminals are thriving in our province, primarily as a result of poor implementation of anti-crime strategies,” Hoosen said.