South Africa’s Minister of Police, Bheki Cele, said the country recorded a decline in different crimes between July and September due to national lockdown introduced to combat COVID-19.
Cele said this on Friday while releasing the quarterly crime statistics for the country.
“Between July and September, about 5,107 people were murdered in South Africa. This meant 339 fewer people were killed, compared to the same period last year. We know that the decreases were largely attributed to the fact that the country was at the time under Lockdown level 4 and level 3″.
According to statistics, all contact crimes decreased by 11.6 per cent, property-related crimes dropped by 18.7 per cent and sexual offences by 16.8 per cent.
However, Cele pointed out that following a lull in criminal activity during the national COVID-19 lockdown, figures began to rise as restrictions were eased between July and September.
Cele warned that as the festive season approaches, criminals were trying to make up for the time lost during the lockdown.
“This is demonstrated by the increase in the country’s most feared crimes, which are residential robberies. While many citizens are still working from home due to the Nationwide Lockdown, incidents of home invasions have increased by 8.5 per cent”.
He expressed concern that there was a 60 per cent increase in Cash in Transit (CIT) crimes during the period under review.
“The fact that this quarter recorded 24 cases more of the CITs than the comparable previous quarter period, it means more can and must be done to infiltrate these gangs and bring CIT robberies to its knees”. (Xinhua)
