Pretoria - All eyes will be on the South African Police Service (SAPS) as they release the much anticipated national crime statistics tomorrow.
Police Minister Nathi Nhleko, Deputy Police Minister Makhotso Sotyu, the National Commissioner of Police, General Riah Phiyega, MECs responsible for Policing, SAPS Provincial Commissioners as well as various SAPS partners - from business, community policing forums and academia - will be present at the release of the crime stats to the Police Portfolio Committee in Parliament.
Instead of the traditional press briefing, the police top brass will unveil the statistics to the MPs.
“The presentation to the portfolio committee will be an open session, however only Members of Parliament will be allowed to address the meeting and ask questions. Media will be afforded an opportunity later in the day,” the SAPS said on Monday.
The crime stats will cover the 2014/15 financial year, from 1 April 2014 to 31 March 2015.
The crime report will cover only crimes that have been reported to the police. The reported crime data is also expected to be further broken down by provinces and police stations.
The categories to be covered during the announcement include murder, business robberies, house robberies, hijackings, robbery with aggravated circumstances, drunken driving, drug related crimes and sexual offences.
Government releases these statistics once a year primarily to provide the public with progress in the fight against crime in the country, as well as a review of some of the current strategies in tackling crime and guiding operational plans for the SAPS.
Last year, the statistics showed that murder was up by 5%, with an additional 809 murders.
The stats also showed that sexual offences had decreased by 5.6% from 2012/13 to 2013/14.
Home robbery was up 7.4%, with 1334 more cases than the previous years, as well as business robbery which also went up by 13.7% and car hijacking was up by 12.3% .
Tomorrow, the SAPS top brass will tell MPs whether this trend has continued. - SAnews.gov.za
