Police in KwaZulu-Natal worked flat-out to fight crime in the province in the 2012/13 financial year with a total of 273 254 people having been arrested in the province.Â
Also in the year under review, police in KZN executed 40.3 million actions against criminals, including patrols, visiting banks, awareness campaigns, borderline patrols and air support operations. This emerged from the KwaZulu-Natal Community Safety and Liaison Quarterly Report tabled by MEC Willies Mchunu and debated in the legislature today (Thursday, 7 November 2013).
Mchunu said police also took a total of 122 126 cases to court, attended 563 416 complaints, analysed 1 074 411 dockets and attended 115 385 crime scenes. Also, in the year under review, a total of 479 crime syndicates were detected and a whopping 10 923 drug outlets were detected.
During the period under review a total number of 2 244 firearms were reported as stolen or lost, including 2 022 firearms owned by individuals and institutions, 190 SAPS firearms and 32 firearms owned by other government departments. This figure constitutes firearms with serial numbers, which could be linked to firearm owners in South Africa.
Also a total of 4 331 firearms were recovered, including 4 294 firearms owned by individuals and institutions, 22 SAPS firearms and 15 firearms owned by other government departments. This represents a recovery rate of 193%. Firearms recovered also include firearms stolen or lost prior to the reporting period.
During the reporting period 11 796 vehicles were stolen or robbed in the province compared to 11 804 in 2011/12. A total number of 5 850 vehicles were recovered during 2012/13, compared to 5 740 during 2011/12. This represents a recovery rate of 50% during 2012/13. Recoveries include vehicles stolen or robbed during previous financial years which could be identified by means of primary and secondary identifiers.
The report also indicated that the government’s efforts to politically stabilise the province ahead of the 2014 national and provincial elections were beginning to show yield positive results with relative peace have returned the almost all the known violence flash points in the province.
The report tabled by Mchunu indicated that joint efforts between the department and the police in flash point areas such as Wembezi, eThekwini hostels and areas such as KwaNongoma in the Zululand District Municipality had seen relative stability returning to these areas.
In this regard, MEC Mchunu said the successful holding of incident free by-elections in the previously volatile KwaNongoma, testified to the return of relative peace in the province.
