The Congress of South African Trade Unions (COSATU) joins hands with its dedicated Affiliate the Police and Prisons Civil Rights Union (POPCRU) and the entire South African Police Service (SAPS) as we mark Police Safety Month and honour the sacrifices of our police officers and their families. The nation is forever indebted to their gallant service to the people.
September is Police Safety Month, a period during which the importance of safeguarding those who have dedicated their lives to keeping South Africans safe, is highlighted.
On Friday, Police Minister Senzo Mchunu released the crime statistics for the first half of this year and confirmed what we already suspected – that crime is generally on the increase with murder, rape, hijacking, kidnapping for ransom, and extortion causing the most worry. Murder, which is considered by experts to be the most accurate gauge of violent crime was up, with 12 734 murders committed in the first half of the year.
Sadly, members of the police services are not immune to this crime. Today, 1 September, SAPS will host its annual Commemoration Day to pay tribute to 39 women and men in blue who died in the line of duty between April 2023 and March 2024. Presenting the crime statistics, Minister Mchunu said another 21 officers had been killed between April and June this year.
Mchunu committed to ensuring that police personnel receive the support and resources they require to perform their duties safely and effectively, adding that their courage and resilience had to be matched by the ministry’s commitment to their safety.
The minister said murder had increased in four of the nine provinces with the Western Cape recording the highest increase. Notable in the statistics was a disturbing increase in the murder of women and children with 928 women killed between January and March, and 966 between April and June. Child murders amounted to 253 from January to March, and 314 between April and June.
Mchunu also registered that 91 rapes and 12 murders had taken place at educational facilities, adding that we sent our children to school expecting they would be safe and the environment conducive for learning but that wasn’t the case. Most murders occurred in public places including liquor outlets and shebeens, agricultural premises, business premises, public transport premises and spaza shops.
The increase in murder is especially alarming given that the police ministry recently revealed that nearly 80 000 unsolved murder cases were closed since 2018 due to insufficient evidence. In total the South African Police Service (SAPS) admitted to closing almost 300 000 unsolved criminal cases including for murder, attempted murder, rape, hijacking, assault and kidnapping. The ministry attributed failure to solve these cases to a shortage of detectives in the police service.
Presenting the ministry’s budget in July, Mchunu pleaded for extra funding to not only augment detective services but to the increase the total number of women and men in blue across the service.
On Friday, Mchunu said the crime statistics were not merely figures but reflected the lived experiences of South Africans, their fears, losses and hopes for a safer tomorrow. He referred to the rising number of kidnapping and extortion cases, with 135 kidnapping cases registered between April and June.
In response, the Crime Intelligence Unit was being capacitated so it could anticipate and counter criminal activities before they escalated. But the horse might have already bolted when it comes to extortion. In a statement, COSATU Eastern Cape said the crime had injected fear in the hearts and minds of citizens of the province and created a state of panic in communities. Some schools had closed due to extortionists demanding money from staff and learners alike.
While COSATU acknowledges that efforts to deal with this crime are underway, we urge the ministry to accelerate its efforts before this scourge entrenches itself further.
COSATU welcomes Mchunu’s commitment that bringing down crime levels is the 7th Administration’s number one priority, along with professionalising the police service by ensuring corruption within its ranks is uprooted, and that through rigorous training and a clear code of conduct a culture of excellence and high ethical standards will be inculcated. He added that investment in technology would be at the forefront of efforts to combat crime efficiently and effectively.
COSATU and its Affiliate, POPCRU, send well wishes to the families and friends of the police officers who lost their lives in the battle against crime. May they find comfort. We pledge our support to Minister Mchunu and the entire SAPS as they continue their brave fight against crime. COSATU urges Minister of Finance Enoch Godongwana to allocate extra funding to the ministry of police when he presents the Medium-Term Budget Policy Statement in October to enable Mchunu to swell the ranks of the police service with particular focus on detective services.
It is critical that we give the SAPS the resources it needs to fill vacant posts, reverse the drain in SAPS personnel numbers, upgrade dilapidated police stations, overhaul archaic IT systems, eradicate and drastically enhance the forensics database, ensure all vehicles are in working order and that the skills of our officers are constantly invested in. It is time that SAPS’ salaries are boosted to reflect the sacrifices they make protecting the nation daily and to ensure their insulation from well-resourced criminals.
We endorse POPCRU’s call for our criminal legislation to be toughened up to ensure no criminal accused of attacking a police officer is granted bail and those who are convicted are given hefty sentences, including life. Our courts need to be resourced and modernised to end the perennial backlogs and delays in court proceedings that result in many cases falling through the cracks and steal away SAPS’ limited time.
Issued by COSATU
Zanele Sabela(COSATU National Spokesperson)
Mobile: 079 287 5788 / 077 600 6639
Email: zanele@cosatu.org.za