By OBAKENG MAJE
5 March 2025- The North West MEC for Community Safety and Transport Management, Wessels Morweng said the province has a general decrease in crime. Morweng, who released 2024/2025 Third Quarter Crime Statistics in Stilfontein on Wednesday, said the province has recorded a total of 26 999 cases, which are over 1100 cases less than for the corresponding period the previous year.
He further said this translates into a 3.9% decrease. Morweng added that, in total, the province had contributed 6.6% to the national crime total.
“Despite the reduction in crime generally, certain crime patterns were more prevalent in some areas. There are areas where we need to intensify our operations. Not surprisingly, one of these is in the area of illegal mining.
“As had been emphasised before, illegal mining is costing the economy of the country well over R70 billion annually in gold mining alone. Added to this, illegal mining has other causal ramifications with sinkholes the common immediate detriment,” he said.
According to Morweng, they are grateful for the successful operation in Stilfontein where though the problem is not completely over, it has been significantly stemmed. He said just as they were heaving a collective sigh of relief on the back of the Stilfontein operation success, another similar challenge reared its ugly head elsewhere in the province.
“The Vala Umgodi operation had recently arraigned 22 illegal mining suspects in the Bojanala District. Of particular interest is that the nationalities of the arrested are no longer just from Africa, but from Asia as well. Of those arrested previously, nationalities varied from Lesotho, Zimbabwe, Mozambique and Malawi.
“Now added to those nationalities, we have some from Democratic Republic of Congo, Ethiopia and Pakistan. For the reporting period, we had a 2.5% decrease on the contact crimes, 10.5% decrease on property related crimes and a 2.2% on other serious crimes category.
“Even though there was a general decrease in crime, contact related crimes increased by 2.3%. Malicious damage to property contributed
most cases which are 1969 cases. This is 48 more cases compared to the previous year, which is a 2.5% increase. Bojanala continued to lead particularly with serious and violent crimes with Rustenburg appearing in the top 12 stations in the country. Dr Kenneth Kaunda District is a provincial hotspot for illegal mining, sexual offences and all assaults.
“The district has both operational and non-operational gold mines, which contributes to the problem of illegal mining and associated crimes. This district also has a challenge of gangs, which are often involved in crimes such as rape, robberies, murder, assaults and drugs particularly in the Klerksdorp,” said Morweng.
“This is the similar pattern in Dr Ruth Segomotsi Mompati, who also recorded sexual offences. For the total figure 26 999 cases reported in the province, 11 958 were in Bojanala, 6 580 in Dr KK, 5530 in Ngaka Modiri Molema and 2931 in Dr RSM District.
He said Ikageng Township, in Potchefstroom continuously reports assault cases and appears in the National top 30 stations for this crime. Morweng said reported crimes in Ngaka Modiri Molema, include assault and murder and stock theft.
“Although murder cases went down by 48,14% compared to the previous year, it is worth noting that Boitekong in Rustenburg, Mmabatho in Mahikeng and Kanana in Orkney had reported more cases. There had been ten multiple murder cases resulting in 24 deaths,” he said.
He said the Ngaka Modiri Molema recorded an increase in the number of murder cases. Morweng said the province has recorded 146 rape cases less than the previous reporting period, which is a decrease of 14.3%.
“Despite this decrease, Mmabatho has recorded more rape cases than the previous year for the same period. Dr Kenneth Kaunda, however, still remains the provincial hotspot for rape cases. There had been 679 cases less in property related crimes which decreased 10.5%.
“The stock theft remains a problem in the Dr Ruth Segomotsi Mompati District with most reported in Taung, Pudumong and Ganyesa. In majority of the cases, livestock stolen in the province is sold in Gauteng. As we have indicated before, we are intentional in fighting Gender-Based Violence (GBV) and sexual offences,” he said.
Morweng said they are all well aware that crime fighting though primarily is the mandate of the police, however, successful crime fighting requires all to work together.
@Taung_DailyNews
taungdailynews.com
