Chairperson, the SA Police Service is a creature of statute. In terms of section 205 of the Constitution, the SA Police Service is constitutionally mandated to prevent, combat and investigate crime, to maintain public order, to protect and secure the inhabitants of the Republic and their property, and to uphold and enforce the law. It means now implementation should happen. However, we are aware that the police are faced with many challenges of which they should be assisted by the communities.
The escalation of violent crimes is a great travesty to our democracy. Statistics SA Victims of Crime Survey for 2018-19 records that more than a million incidents of housebreaking have happened. These housebreakings are affecting more than 900 000 households in South Africa. So, it means lot of people are suffering because of crime.
It further records that an estimated number of more than
264 000 of incidences of home robberies are occurring, also affecting more than 183 000 households for 2018-19. The number of affected households represents more than 1,1% of all households in the country.
Chairperson, these statistics are not a thumb-sucking. They are a damp squib. South Africans have always to look above their shoulders. The increases in violent crimes are compounded by the ratio of police personnel per capita rate. In broad brush strokes, there are issues of political leadership which have not helped the situation. For example, the work of the Independent Police Investigative Directorate, Ipid against rogue police officers has not been up to scratch. Of course, we have
to put our hands on deck as Parliament; as the police; and ordinary South Africans to fight the scourge of violent crimes.
We also think that in rural areas traditional leaders should also be co- opted so that they can assist. Criminals are known by our communities. The only problem is that our policemen are not assisted to identify who the criminals are. They must be encouraged to assist. It should not be only the government that should assist the communities. Communities should also assist the government. Thank you very much. [Time expired.]