Johannesburg – The dramatic increase in cases of kidnappings in South Africa not only paints a picture of how this country is rapidly descending into a mafia state, but it is also a clear demonstration of how our police are losing the war against crime.
That 2 000 cases of kidnapping were recorded in just three months must make ordinary South Africans very afraid.
Releasing his quarterly crime statistics on Friday, Police Minister Bheki Cele reported there were 93 kidnapping cases in July, 175 in August, and 177 in September, with the country’s crime capital of Gaut eng leading with 729 kidnapping cases, followed by KwaZulu-Natal with 407.
Cele did not take us into his confidence about what the police are doing to deal with this new scourge, which appears to becoming a new menace and pandemic in our midst. People are in a state of panic and no longer feel comfortable with their children and spouses going out without personal protection as they have lost trust in the police.
Sadly, the poor, who are not spared from this emerging pattern of terror, cannot afford private security. It seems the police are still at sixes and sevens as all Cele could muster to tell the nation is that the police are monitoring the situation.
He could not provide any measures his men and women in blue are taking to ensure that kidnappings do not become a permanent feature of our lives.
The numbers are spine-chilling when we take into account that 9 556 cases of rape were reported in a period of just three months and more than 1 000 violent murders were registered in comparison to the previous period last year.
If anything, these numbers are damning on the competence of the minister and his team.
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