The Democratic Alliance (DA) has requested the Provincial Police Commissioner, Lt Gen Koliswa Otola, to present SAPS’s plans to bring down violent crime at the provincial crime stats briefing next week, after the Northern Cape was the only province to record increases in murder and contact crimes.
According to the Fourth Quarterly report for 2024/25, contact crime showed an increase of 72 cases with murder reflecting an increase of 21 cases, compared to the same time last year. Kakamas SAPS station has also joined Galeshewe, Kimberley and Rosedale stations on the top 30 list for attempted murder. This is the first time the province recorded four stations on this list.
Assault with the intention to inflict grievous bodily harm increased with 82 cases. The Northern Cape further maintained its position as having the third highest rape ratio in the country, reflecting increases in rape and sexual assault.
Commercial crime also continues to climb, with 69 additional cases reported.
The increasingly unsafe, violent and corrupt nature of the Northern Cape is indicative of a growing sense of lawlessness, where SAPS’s presence simply isn’t powerful enough to defend the scattered communities of this vast province and deter crime. This is aggravated by the R50 million shortfall to address policing vehicle allocations to stations, as highlighted by the DA earlier this year.
The DA has written to Otola, asking her to share her plans to address the growing crime levels in the violent and murderous Northern Cape, in a climate of dwindling financial and human resources. We also want to know how many of the 5500 police trainees will be deployed to the province. It is further crucial that the recently announced National Policing Policy be implemented in the Northern Cape to ensure improved and specialised safety and law enforcement from SAPS.