Why is violent crime getting worse?
Not all violent crime.
Murders are.
Yes, murders are a problem. Mostly gang-related activities in the Western Cape, taxi murders and political killings in KZN.
What about home invasions?
This is to do with house robberies, which are not on the increase. But the biggest problem with house robberies is that it is the most fearful crime. The other crime that is shooting the level of fear up is farm attacks.
One of the reasons why crimes will escalate is ... criminals always find new methods of committing crime.
Are you satisfied with the response?
What I'm satisfied with are our stabilisation interventions. We have established a modus operandi analysis centre, and that puts us ahead of criminals because we get to know all their methods before they can apply them.
What about violent crime?
I'm also referring to violent crime. Once you know the modus operandi, then you can prevent that crime by intercepting the criminals.
So why aren't you preventing these crimes?
The murders in the Western Cape have stabilised and gone down. There used to be 40 murders per weekend minimum. We've reduced that to one case.
Because of the lockdown or alcohol ban?
No, the stats are from before the lockdown. We've deployed stabilisation forces from other provinces and from the defence force. As far as murder is concerned, we're focusing on KZN now.
Is that situation out of control?
Not totally. We've got a political task team we've put in place. More than 264 of the hitmen are in jail.
Killings in the province are still rife, aren't they?
They've started rising again but that's also because of taxi violence.
What are you doing about it?
I've ordered the establishment of a taxi violence unit because we're now providing a specialised unit response. We've also reinstated the murder and robbery unit.
So why have people never felt more vulnerable?
The strategy of the criminals is to instil fear. But the opposite part of this is that criminals have never been so scared of police interventions.
But violent crime is going up?
We have a 72-hour-activation plan, which is the most dangerous intervention against criminals. They're getting intercepted sometimes before they can commit the crime. Cash-in-transit heists have gone down considerably.
Why do we see so few convictions?
The police must work with the prosecution. We have an integrated plan now.
Like we had with the Scorpions?
Yes.
Why are investigations so weak?
Part of the reason cases are thrown out of court is the level of co-operation we get from witnesses.
From the community?
Yes.
Because of police brutality?
No. As and when police acted outside the law against communities, we've also acted against those police.
So why are they bullying people?
It's often law enforcers who are under municipal control, not the police.
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