Eastern Cape Crime Statistics Quarter 1 2020/2021 were on 10 September 2020, released at the Eastern Cape Provincial Office, Zwelitsha. The Eastern Cape Provincial Commissioner, Lieutenant General Liziwe Ntshinga welcomed everyone present and those who joined the release of Eastern Cape Crime Statistics Quarter 1 202/2021 virtually.
“Surely, there might be some questions with regard to the timing of this release and the recent briefing we had not long ago on the 14 August 2020. This development is part of the national decision by the Minister of Police that from now onward we shall release our crime statistics on a quarterly basis,” she elaborated.
“Most of the crime categories have shown a remarkable decrease whilst in the area of police generated crimes you might notice an unusual decrease principally because of the lockdown environmental factors,” she added before handing over to Acting Provincial Head: Crime Registrar, Colonel Kevin Moodley.
17 Community Reported Serious Crime – those crimes in which the victims themselves are the targets of violence or where property is targeted and the victims in the vicinity during the commission of the crime are subjected to threats of violence or the use of such violence. These include contact crime, contact-related crime, property-related crime and other serious crimes. The trend over 3 month period depicted a decrease of -27.4% with a -11 232 case difference compared to the same period 2019/2020.
Contact Crimes depicted a -37.2% with a case difference of -5 919 compared to the same period 2019/2020. Murders, which have consistently been a stubborn crime in the province also depicted a decrease of -32.1%, attempted murder a decrease of -23.4%, sexual offences a decrease of -39.2%, assault GBH a decrease of -43.0% and assault common a decrease of -28.5%.
Trio Crimes which include carjacking, robbery – residential premises and robbery at non-residential premises depicted a -27.3% decrease while truck hijackings depicted an increase of 20.0% and the case difference compared to the same period in 2019/2020 is 5 cases.
Regrettably, stock theft continues to be a concern and this category depicted an increase of 1.4%. This continues to be a concern for the province as these stock represents the livelihood of many of our citizens.
Responding to the crime statistics, the MEC for Transport, Safety and Liaison, Mrs Weziwe Tikana-Gxothiwe said, “This is the kind of feedback that on any other day, we would be extremely proud of. The first quarter of 2020/2021 financial year coincided with the hardest lockdown South Africa has ever known. This period also coincided with the time when there was a hard ban on the sale of alcohol, a drug that has been at the centre of many of the atrocious crimes the province and the country has ever known,” she said in her opening remarks. She also contextualized that this does not in any way, shape or form attribute this success from the banning of alcohol as we are not blaming every criminal problem we have had before on the sale and consumption of alcohol.
“This period showed us what can be done when our government and its people work together. Our challenge is to build to these numbers. Our challenge is to work closer together, our challenge is to ensure that going forward, we strengthen our ties between communities and law enforcement. For it is only through that, that we will end the crime in our communities,” she concluded.
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