Not one car stolen in Bay. Seriously?
Haibo! It’s a lie, says one victim, as glitches and alleged distortions mar latest crime statistics
NOT a single car was stolen in Nelson Mandela Bay between April last year and March this year.
That is if the crime statistics presented to parliament’s police committee yesterday are to be believed.
Questions surrounding the validity of the statistics were raised yesterday by MPs, opposition parties and security study experts, with one saying it appeared people had risen from the dead.
According to the national figures, contact crimes went down gradually over the last decade, but increased over the past year, with murders up 4.6% (to 49 murders a day) and attempted murder rising by 3.2%.
National statistics also showed dramatic increases in truck hijackings (up by 29.1%) and car hijackings (14.2%). Adding to this, drug-related crime increased by 2.4%.
Common robbery increased by 2.7%, while aggravated robbery increased by 8.5%. Robberies at residential properties increased by 5.2% Sexual offences saw a 5.4% decrease.
However, Nelson Mandela Bay is the safest place of all to have a car – if the car-theft statistics can be believed (and, no, they cannot!).
According to the statistics, not a single policing precinct in the Bay recorded a case involving a stolen car between April last year and March.
Fundisa Dlula, 43, whose car was stolen outside the Atheneum in Central, Port Elizabeth, in April, gave a resounding “Haibo” when this claim was put to her. “It’s a lie,” she said emphatically. Dlula said she had reported her car stolen at the Humewood police station, was given a case number and had heard nothing more from the police.
According to last year’s figures, more than 1 050 cars were stolen in the Bay between April 2013 and March last year.
This is not the first time errors have crept into the statistics.
Gareth Newham, from the Institute for Security Studies (ISS), said it was a sign of how police management had deteriorated.
“In 2012-13, it was the wrong population figures which were used,” he said.
Stevenson said examples of differing crime statistics for the Eastern Cape included:
- Murder for 2013-14 – 3 453 as published on September 19 last year compared with 3 441 as published yesterday, 12 fewer cases.
- Total sexual offences for 2013-14 – 9 897 in September last year compared with 9 616 yesterday, (281 fewer cases); and
- Robbery with aggravated circumstances for 2013-14 – 13 485 in September last year compared with 13 443 yesterday, (42 fewer incidents).
Makgale said figures had to be adjusted when it was found after investigation that no crime had in fact occurred in some cases.
“In other words, we need to remove unfounded cases from the system to get a true reflection of the cases.”
ISS researcher Lizette Lancaster said: “It would be very interesting to know how they revised the last few years’ crime statistics as it is very tricky and not something that can be easily done.
“It would appear that, in some cases, people rose from the dead as the year-on-year murder figures also changed,” she said.
“I don’t know how this happened and we will be requesting Statistics SA to give details on how they came to these figures.”
Lancaster said several police stations across the country showed no vehicle theft figures and the police had blamed it on a technical glitch.
Binta’s spokeswoman, Brigadier Marinda Mills, referred all queries to police commissioner Riah Phiyega’s office, saying it was responsible for the release of the statistics.
Politicians were also sceptical when presented with the figures.
ANC MP Angelina Molebatsi noted there had been an “outcry out there” about the reliability of the statistics. “Is the methodology used bringing the envisaged results?
“You spoke of the involvement of Statistics SA, which is appreciated, but my question is, are we going to see a situation in future where there will be an institution that compiles crime stats independently?” Molebatsi asked.
ANC MP Martha Mmola said: “How will the statistics be quality-controlled if Stats SA does not have the responsibility for releasing them?
-Gareth Wilson, Babalo Ndenze, Graeme Hosken and Shaun Smillie
