The spokesperson for the Department of Police, Roads, and Transport, Hillary Mophethe, tells OFM News a new date for the briefing will be announced in due course. It isn’t clear why the briefing, which was meant to be Baile Motswenyane’s first since she took over the position of Free State Police Commissioner in 2019, has been postponed at the last minute. Elsewhere in Central South Africa, the Northern Cape province will release its crime statistics virtually on Tuesday afternoon.

Over a week ago, Police Minister Bheki Cele, who was flanked by the National Police Commissioner, Khehla Sitole, before parliament’s portfolio committee on police, revealed there was an overall decline in reported crime between 1 April and 31 March 2020. Violent crime, however, continues to persist, with murders in the country rising by 1,4% in the same financial year. Sexual crimes - which are currently in the spotlight due to Women’s Month - increased by 1,7%, to over 53 200 cases, 873 more than the previous financial year. Carjackings have seen the highest jump in reported cases nationally with a 13,3% increase.  It remains to be seen if the Free State and Northern Cape’s respective crime figures and patterns will mirror those seen nationally.

The statistics cover 21 crime categories, 17 of which are reported by the public, whilst the remaining four are as a result of proactive police operations. The latter includes roadblocks, in which criminal activity is found. Under normal circumstances the nation’s crime figures are released in September, however, a decision to have the statistics released on a quarterly basis pushed the release ahead of time. Sitole also noted some possible discrepancies in these figures, due to police stations closing as a result of the Covid-19 pandemic.

In 2019, the then Free State Police Commissioner, Moeketsi Sempe, said the province’s police had managed to reduce 17 community-related crime figures by 21% from over 118 000 in 2009/10 to close to 94 000 instances in 2018/19, despite a growing population. Sempe stressed the importance of crime statistics in affecting policy change and development and described the decade long decrease in crime in the province as a silver lining. “Does this give us hope? The answer is a resounding yes,” said Sempe at the time. It remains to be seen if his successor - Motswenyane - shares this optimism.

OFM News