Remarks By Premier Dr Zamani Saul on the Occasion of the Release of the Northern Cape Provincial Crime Statistics
We present these crime statistics at a time when the world is fighting the novel Coronavirus. Although this is essentially a health pandemic it also impacts on crime and violence in our communities especially crime meted out against women and children. The Northern Cape Provincial Government welcomes the crime statistics that will be presented by the South African Police Services shortly. The team has prepared a very clear and concise presentation and I am sure that you are eagerly awaiting these statistics.
Notable is the fact that between last year and this year, we can report that generally, crime is stable. We are all aware that crime does not only impact on the safety and wellbeing of our people but it seriously threatens the economic development of our Province as a whole. The release of the crime statistics therefore provides a barometer to measure whether we are on the right track to ensure the safety, security and development of our people.
It also provides us with crucial statistics and indicators on where we need to improve to ensure that we serve protect and develop not only our people, but communities in general.
We present these crime statistics at a time when we are commemorating Women’s Month and we will shortly learn that violence against women and children has generally decreased but sexual offences has increased. This still remains an indictment on the life of the victim and as Government we call on especially men to lead the charge against protecting our women and children against these heinous acts.
Proactive Crime prevention lays a solid foundation in the eradication and fight against crime and criminality. Active community involvement in the fight against crime and the promotion of peace and stability is of cardinal importance. The success in building safer communities requires a partnership approach between government, communities, businesses and non-governmental organisations to work together in a coordinated way to develop and implement strategies to address the short and long term causes of crime.
To respond to crimes against vulnerable groups in society, we are hard at work to finalise our Provincial Strategy on Gender-Based Violence and Femicide. This will enable us to work closer with stakeholders and civil society to ensure that our women and children are safe.
I want to conclude by making a plea to community members to join hands with Government, in the fight against crime. We also call on our communities to continue observing the Covid-19 health and safety protocols to ensure that we contain the pandemic
