“Victims of crime need to come forward,” urges crime expert

Crime expert, Jacob Mofokeng, is urging South Africans not to sit back and not report the crimes they experience.

Mofokeng’s remarks follow today’s release of the second quarter crime statistics for the 2023/24 financial year in Parliament by Police Minister, Bheki Cele, and the SA Police Service (SAPS) top brass.

The stats have shown a slight decrease in the numbers of serious crimes being reported in country.

According to the data, sexual offences dropped by about 1.5%. There was a 3.1% decline in murders between May and July and a 0.8% drop in the number of people killed between July and September.

There was, however, a 12.3% increase in the attempted murder rate. There were 42 297 attempted murder cases reported, 6 911 more than the same period last year.

Mofokeng says the latest data might not be a true reflection of the situation on the ground.

He says more needs to be done in order to figure out why people are not reporting crime.

The expert believes that there is a need for the country’s criminal justice system to be efficient to better deal with crime.

This, he says, will only be achieved when the criminal justice system works in unison.

Mofokeng says poor police training, the arrest and perceived quick release of criminals might be contributing factors to a low crime reporting rate in the country.

He says secondary victimisation of sexual assault victims is another major problem that needs to be addressed.

A 3.1% decline in murder cases was noted between May and July 2023 #CrimeStats pic.twitter.com/xUPNcuRJUX

— @SAgovnews (@SAgovnews) November 17, 2023

#CrimeStats Here is a summary of all the crime numbers for the second quarter of this year. pic.twitter.com/AjRztNRhR6

— Yusuf Abramjee (@Abramjee) November 17, 2023