Expert says SA crime levels are symptomatic of a broken society

February 22, 2024 135

The Institute for Security Studies says the level of criminality in society is indicative of criminals becoming more brazen as they don’t fear being held accountable for their crimes.

The remarks by the ISS’ Crime and Justice Program Head, Gareth Newham, come at the back of two separate cases that made headlines.

In one case, four City Power employees were robbed of their cellphones and wallets in the west of Johannesburg.

This incident brought to seven the number of City Power technicians who have been robbed in the last two weeks.

In a separate case, eight suspected zama-zamas were arrested for the robbery that took place on the M1 north during peak traffic near the Crown Interchange on Tuesday morning.

Newham says these cases are not shocking as criminals feel that police cannot solve crime efficiently.

He says the number of murder cases that police have been able to solve has dropped by about 60%.

Newham says this also speaks to the high number of cold cases, which can be attributed to the police’s inability to property investigate and arrest suspects.

Last week, Police minister, Bheki Cele, announced a 2.1% murder rate hike in the country between October and December last year.

This shows that nearly four people are killed every hour in South Africa, which is close to 86 people per day.

Civil rights organisation, Action Society, has slammed the hike as deeply concerning – saying it is one of the highest murder rates that the country has ever had.

Action Society’s Safety director, Ian Cameron, says the perceived lack synchronised crime fighting strategy within the judicial system and the police services officials is counterproductive.