Cape Town – Western Cape police will step up crime intelligence operations in Nyanga, Cape Town, provincial police commissioner Arno Lamoer said on Friday.

Lamoer denied a lack of police visibility led to the area again recording the highest number of murders in the country.

The national crime statistics, released on Thursday, showed 262 people were murdered in the area in 2012/13. He said more plain clothes officers would be employed to crack down on criminals.

“I deploy detectives there in private clothes. I deploy crime intelligence officers there in private clothes,” he said.

Visibility alone would not solve the high crime rate in Nyanga.

“We want to make sure that you must be scared to commit a crime because you don’t know [whether] the person walking next to you can be a police officer,” Lamoer said.

By-laws

Another strategy Lamoer said needed to be implemented was cracking down on the blatant violation of by-laws in Nyanga and surrounds.

“You look at the health and building regulations that are not adhered to. You drive around in Nyanga and you see how many cars are unroadworthy. If you start dealing with the smaller crimes, you start making an impact on the bigger crimes.”

Lamoer wants to strengthen investigative capacity at the station and possibly make some staff changes.

The latest statistics, for the financial year from April 2012 to March 2013, painted a bleak picture for not only Nyanga, but other areas in the Western Cape.

Four other parts of Cape Town were in the top 10 areas with highest murder rates in the country.
Khayelitsha had 168 murders, Harare 132, Gugulethu 129, and Delft 113.

Steep increases in crime

Overall, murder increased by 12% in the province, while attempted murder shot up by 42%.

There were also steep increases in the so-called trio crimes. House robberies in the province went up by 23%, business robberies by 23%, and carjacking by 46%.

Drug-related crime rose by 6.5%.

The only category of crime to see a downward trend was sexual offences, down 6.5%.

Lamoer said he was concerned about crimes against women and children.

“The 4-month-old baby that was raped in Ceres. Those are things we see on a daily basis happening in this province.

“Two weeks ago we had an eight-month-old baby that was raped and those are things that really keep me awake at night to try and figure out what can we do to turn that around,” Lamoer said.

Protest strain

Police had to improve on curbing spaza shop robberies, policing in gang areas, and strengthening partnerships with communities.

They were starting to do well with a high rate of illegal firearm recoveries, good work on policing and investigating sexual offences, and police control over strikes and violent protests.

Protests were however putting strain on police resources.

“One of the core reasons our resources have been stretched is protest action,” Lamoer said.

He said the problems protesters had were not with police, yet officers bore the brunt of their frustrations.

Lamoer urged other government departments to step in quicker when problems with delivery arose.

“The time we spent on these things [protests] is amazing. Take the De Doorns [farmworkers’ strike] for instance. The number of police officers I deployed there from the metropole to go to deal with those issues, that’s a serious concern.”

– SAPA

Johannesburg – Sixteen animals burned to death and 61 were critically injured in veld fires in Thomas River near Stutterheim this week, the Eastern Cape SPCA said on Friday.

The blaze broke out on Thursday afternoon and destroyed grazing on four farms, said Eastern Cape Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals spokesperson Annette Rademeyer.

The size of each farm was believed to be in the region of 3 000ha. “The whole place is devastated and there is absolutely no grazing for 3 000 animals rescued.”

Badly burnt animals had to be killed. Rademeyer appealed to farmers in other provinces to donate food for feed the surviving animals.

In the Free State, Zastron, Petrus Steyn, and Rosendal were also affected by fires. Apparently thousands of hectares of land and grazing were destroyed.

Free State SPCA spokesperson Nazareth Appalsamy said countless animals were affected. A call had been made for donations to help with the relief efforts, he said.

Teams had been sent to assess damage and help animals in the affected areas.

– SAPA

Johannesburg – The views on police evidence expressed in a statement are not those of the Farlam Commission of Inquiry, the commission said on Friday.

The statement, issued on Thursday, had contained the submissions made to the commission by senior evidence leader Geoff Budlender, SC, in support of an application for a postponement to 25 September, the commission said in a statement.

Budlender wanted the postponement to enable the evidence leaders to work through the new material, running into thousands of papers. It had been made available by the SA Police Service, and the SAPS legal team to provide explanations on certain matters arising from the documents seen so far, it said.

Thursday’s statement read: “In the past 10 days we have discovered through the evidence leaders that there must be information that was not disclosed by the police that seeks to suggest that the information was withheld to try and portray a certain approach to the commission in relation to what has been discovered.”

‘Not the truth’

On Friday, the commission said it was important to stress three facts.

During the course of Budlender’s submissions he stated that in the opinion of the evidence leaders some of the documents obtained demonstrated that the SAPS version of the events at Marikana, as described in its presentation, and the evidence of SAPS witnesses in the commission, were in material respects not the truth.

Commission chairperson, retired judge Ian Farlam, had said that that might not be so, whereupon Budlender said it was a matter for the commission, and not the evidence leaders, to decide ultimately.

Secondly, in granting the postponement sought, which was not opposed by the SAPS or any of the other parties present, Farlam had said: “I think it appropriate to place on record these are at the moment only concerns.

“There are no findings made, these are matters that have to be looked at, and we don’t know what the results of the examination of these points will be. But clearly from what you tell us, these are matters that require careful consideration, which I am sure they will receive.”

Open mind

Finally, the commission intended keeping an open mind on the matters on which it had to make findings until the results of all the investigations, all the evidence, and all submissions were before it.

The commission, sitting in Centurion, is investigating the deaths of 44 people during strike-related unrest at Lonmin’s platinum mining operations at Marikana, near Rustenburg in the North West last year.

Police shot dead 34 people, almost all of them striking mineworkers, while trying to disperse and disarm them on 16 August 2012. Ten people, including two police officers and two security guards, were killed in the preceding week.

President Jacob Zuma established the commission shortly after the unrest.

– SAPA

Bloemfontein – A 15-year-old schoolboy is expected to appear in Sasolburg Magistrate’s Court soon after shooting a teacher at his school, police said on Friday.

Sergeant Sellwane Mapamela said the incident occurred at around 10:45.

“This morning, a 15-year-old boy was chasing three other pupils at school. He was stopped by the deputy principal, asking him why he was chasing them,” Mapamela said.

“During this questioning, the boy pulled a pistol from behind his back but a shot did not go off.”

Mapamela said the boy then ran away. Two teachers followed and tried to disarm him. During the scuffle, a shot went off, hitting one of the teachers in the right lower leg.

Mapamela said the boy again ran off and was accosted by police in DF Malan Street in Sasolburg. The firearm, believed to be that of his grandfather, was found in his possession.

The boy was in police custody and undergoing psychological assessment.

The wounded teacher was in a stable condition and receiving treatment at a local Sasolburg hospital. According to Corenl van Heerden, a Beeld photographer, the teacher’s name is Johan Jordaan.

Mamapela said an attempted murder docket had been opened.

“A case of pointing a firearm and attempted murder has been registered for further investigation.”

– SAPA

Johannesburg – The use of ratios in the national crime statistics was not intended to “deliberately confuse” the media, police said on Friday.

“The SA Police Service uses ratios as it a common international practice when doing comparisons,” said Lieutenant General Solomon Makgale in a statement.

“When using ratios, it is possible to find that although a certain crime category may have decreased, it may show increase when considering the raw figures. There is nothing untoward.”

He said the country’s population change was taken into consideration to improve the analysis.

“If one does not factor population change, it will result in an incorrect analysis and improper understanding of crime statistics,” he said.

“Normally, one would expect that as the population grows so should crime due to the increased opportunities, particularly contact crime.”

The crime statistics were released by Police Minister Nathi Mthethwa on Thursday.

Since then some political parties, experts and media questioned the use of ratios and the calculations used to determine the results.

Mthethwa said the number of murders increased by 0.6% in the past financial year. However, it was down 16.6% over the past four years, and 27.2% over the past nine years.

There was also a 6.5% increase in attempted murder in the 2012/2013 financial year.

This was in contrast to the 16.8% decline over the past four years and the 51.7% decline over the past nine years. The number of aggravated robberies had also increased by 1.2%.

– SAPA

Johannesburg – The DA did not attend a Tlokwe council special meeting on Friday, because it was illegally convened, the party said.

“The DA-led coalition in the Tlokwe Municipality in Potchefstroom decided not to attend a special council meeting this morning [Friday] illegally convened by the speaker, Barei Segotso,” North West DA leader Chris Hattingh said in a statement.

He alleged the meeting contravened the council’s rules of order and the Municipal Structures Act.

A quorum of 50% of the councillors plus one was needed to call such a meeting. This condition was not met for Friday’s meeting.

Tlokwe municipal spokesperson William Maphosa could not immediately comment on the claims that the meeting was convened illegally.

The ANC in the North West said earlier that a motion of no confidence in Tlokwe Mayor Annette Combrink, of the DA, was on the meeting’s agenda, but it would not be effected.

“While the motion appears as an agenda item in today’s [Friday] council meeting, the ANC will not be acting on this matter today,” spokesperson Kenny Morolong said in a statement.

Fourteen ANC councillors were expelled from the party in July for participating in a motion of no confidence in then Tlokwe mayor Maphetle Maphetle. He was replaced by Combrink.

The ANC’s national disciplinary committee subsequently overturned the expulsions.

No reply

Hattingh said the DA had received no reply to letters written to Segotso about its concerns relating to the meeting.

He said no council meetings had been called for three months, despite a number of pressing service delivery issues which needed to be discussed.

“No other agenda point addressing delivery was on the agenda for [Friday’s] special council meeting,” Hattingh said.

Morolong said a motion of no confidence in Combrink would be delayed.

“The inevitable removal of the mayor, who ascended to the position through the subversion of democracy, will only be effected after the conclusion of the outstanding by-elections.”

The ANC retained control of two of three wards in Tlokwe by-elections on Wednesday.

The Electoral Court in Bloemfontein ordered on Tuesday evening that five of the nine by-elections in Tlokwe be postponed.

This was after the court heard an application by five independent candidates, who were disqualified from taking part in the by-elections by the Independent Electoral Commission.

A sixth by-election, in Ward 13, was earlier postponed after an out-of-court settlement.

North West Local Government MEC Manketsi Tlhape said on Wednesday the date for the remaining by-elections would be announced once her office received the required documents from the IEC.

Morolong said: “The ANC reaffirms its unwavering resolve to restore democracy and the will of the people of Tlokwe, thus building on the foundation we have already laid to change the lives of our people for the better.”

– SAPA

Johannesburg – Five people were arrested in connection with a farm robbery in Bergville, KwaZulu-Natal police said on Friday.

They allegedly robbed an elderly couple of money and weapons, Colonel Jay Naicker said.

“The couple were tied [up] with cable ties and the suspects fled taking the farmer’s two shotguns, two revolvers, and an undisclosed amount of cash,” Naicker said.

The first man was arrested on Wednesday in Upper Tugela and another, believed to be the mastermind, in Pietermaritzburg on Thursday.

“The police investigation continued last night [Thursday] and three further suspects were arrested in Bergville.”

During the arrests the money and weapons stolen during the robbery were recovered.

The men were due to appear in the Bergville Magistrate’s Court and would face charges of robbery with aggravating circumstances, possession of unlicensed firearms, and possession of suspected stolen property.

– SAPA

Johannesburg – Corrupt police officers will be hunted down and dealt with mercilessly, acting Gauteng police commissioner Lieutenant General Joel Mothiba said on Friday.

Following the release of Gauteng’s 2012/13 crime statistics by Premier Nomvula Mokonyane in Johannesburg on Friday, Mothiba pledged to root out corrupt officers.

“We are concerned about the SAPS [SA Police Service] members as well as metro police members that are involved in crimes and corruption,” he said.

“They [corrupt officers] undermine the good work being done by law enforcement officials.”
He pledged to take stern action against his corrupt subordinates.

“Government has declared zero-tolerance on corruption and we will lead and deal with all corrupt, criminal elements in our midst mercilessly,” said Mothiba.

“We will hunt them down. An appeal is being made to members of the community to stop offering bribes to our members. It takes two to tango. If communities stop corrupting our members there will be less corruption.”

Rising trend

Earlier, Mokonyane expressed concern over the rising trend of police officers involved in graft.

“A worrisome statistic shows that 18 out of 50 provincial policing precincts were reported as crime-infested dens that recorded police collusion and outright corruption,” she said.

“The Johannesburg central police precinct tops the list with approximately 13 000 criminal cases that were perpetrated by officers in uniform.”

In the 2012/13 Gauteng crime statistics, Mokonyane revealed that vehicle hijackings in Gauteng increased 2% in the past financial year.

She said the country’s most populous province had intensified efforts to counter the hijackings.

Mokonyane: Crime under control in Gauteng

Increases were recorded in stock theft, up by 5.1%. Robberies at residential premises increased by 3.6%.

Mokonyane said robberies at business premises, murder, and motor vehicle theft had diminished in the province. Sexual offences declined by 10%.

She remained upbeat that crime was under control in Gauteng.

“What is heartening is that the apprehension of [corrupt officers] was not done by a nurse, a doctor, or a journalist. It was done by members of the SA Police Service and other law enforcement agents.

“We still have the confidence, as the provincial government, in the capacity of the police to fight crime.”

A bleak picture about crime in the country emerged when Police Minister Nathi Mthethwa released the national crime statistics in Pretoria on Thursday.

The national figures indicate that serious crime such as murder, burglary, aggravated robbery, and hijackings are on the rise.

– SAPA

Bloemfontein – A Sasolburg school teacher who was shot by a pupil was in a stable condition after undergoing surgery, a hospital official said on Friday.

Emfuleni MediClinic spokesperson Retha Behr said the teacher was operated on to have the bullet removed from his leg.

He was in the intensive care unit of the Vanderbijlpark hospital on Friday afternoon.

“He is in a stable condition,” said Behr.

The teacher was shot by a 15-year-old at a Sasolburg high school on Friday morning around 10:45, Free State police said.

“This morning, a 15-year-old boy was chasing three other pupils at school. He was stopped by the deputy principal, asking him why he was chasing them,” Sergeant Sellwane Mapamela said.

“During this questioning, the boy pulled a pistol from behind his back but a shot did not go off.”

Mapamela said the boy then ran away. Two teachers followed and tried to disarm him. During the scuffle, a shot went off, hitting one of the teachers in the right lower leg.

Mapamela said the boy again ran off and was accosted by police in DF Malan Street in Sasolburg. The firearm, believed to be that of his grandfather, was found in his possession.

The boy was in detention and undergoing psychological assessment.

Mamapela said an attempted murder docket had been opened.

“A case of pointing a firearm and attempted murder has been registered for further investigation.”

The boy was expected to appear in the Sasolburg Magistrate’s Court soon.

– SAPA

Cape Town – Western Cape police commissioner Arno Lamoer has dismissed calls to reintroduce specialised police drug and gang units.

“The successes when it comes to drugs are because every single police officer accepts ownership in the fight against drugs,” he told journalists at the release of the Western Cape’s 2012/13 crime statistics in Cape Town on Friday.

“If we have a specific unit to do that, the ownership goes to that unit alone… we’ve seen it and history has taught us that.”

Lamoer emphasised that specialised investigating units, such as the Hawks and a task team, were analysing “certain trends” in the province.

The latest statistics, for the financial year from April 2012 to March 2013, painted a bleak picture for the Western Cape.

Violent crime, such as murder, assault, and robbery, increased by 10%, and Nyanga in Cape Town was again singled out for its murder rate.

Recently, the national government, the Western Cape government, and the City of Cape Town said they would work together to address the underlying causes of the high crime rate in the area.

“We want to welcome the initiatives from the provincial government in the Nyanga area,” Lamoer said.

“Safety and security can never only be the responsibility of the SA Police Service [SAPS].”

In 2012/13, 262 people were murdered in Nyanga.

Besides Nyanga, four other areas in Cape Town were among the areas with the top 10 highest murder rates in the country.

Khayelitsha had 168 murders, Harare 132, Gugulethu 129, and Delft 113.

The increased crime rates could be ascribed to a “toxic mix” of factors, such as gangsterism, drugs, and domestic violence, he said.

– SAPA