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Wyndham Hartley
23 September 2009
The crimes that South Africans fear the most -- attacks at their homes, places of work and cars -- have substantially increased, national crime figures released by Police Minister Nathi Mthethwa yesterday revealed .
Mthethwa, making a special statement to the National Assembly, said that small and informal businesses had borne the brunt of the crime wave. Robberies at these categories of businesses accounted for more than 66% of robberies at non- residential premises.
While murder and attempted murder continued their downward trend with decreases of between 3% and 4%, more than 18000 South Africans were still killed between April last year and March this year.
Robberies, as opposed to burglaries, from businesses were up a staggering 41,1%, robberies from homes 27,3%, carjacking by 5% and truckjacking 15,4%. Robberies from larger businesses, bank robberies and cash- in-transit heists were down as these entities were more able to take measures to protect themselves, while smaller businesses were largely defenceless and were almost certain to have cash on the premises.
South Africa: Most-Feared Crimes Show Steep Rise
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