{"id":526180,"date":"2021-10-04T14:10:36","date_gmt":"2021-10-04T12:10:36","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/?p=526180"},"modified":"2021-10-04T14:15:21","modified_gmt":"2021-10-04T12:15:21","slug":"south-africa-faces-major-crime-wave-in-the-coming-months-experts","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/trending\/526180\/south-africa-faces-major-crime-wave-in-the-coming-months-experts\/","title":{"rendered":"South Africa faces major crime wave in the coming months: experts"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>A move to an adjusted level 1 lockdown and the upcoming festive season means South Africans should brace for a surge in crime, especially cash-in-transit (CIT) robberies, experts warn.<\/p>\n<p>Data published by the <strong><a href=\"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/business\/525470\/beware-these-scams-and-crimes-are-on-the-rise-in-south-africa\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">South African Banking Risk Information Centre (Sabric) <\/a><\/strong>shows that CIT robberies across the country decreased significantly due to the level 5 lockdown in April and May of 2020.<\/p>\n<p>However, once restrictions were lifted, this type of crime increased again by 22<strong>%<\/strong> as criminals could move with fewer restrictions and fear of roadblocks.<\/p>\n<p>Annie Kok, a research assistant at the UCT Centre of Criminology, told eNCA that the number of criminal incidents increased by more than 50% in Q3 and Q4 2020, following a similar easing in restrictions.<\/p>\n<p>Kok said that the only way this can be combatted is through sophisticated intelligence, actionable strategies and coordination of all stakeholders.<\/p>\n<p>Fidelity Services Group chief executive Whal Bartmann said that the company is taking steps to prepare for increasing incidents, including additional backup forces and air support.<\/p>\n<p>He added that Fidelity has a strong relationship with the South African Police Services (SAPS) and runs operations alongside them.<\/p>\n<p><iframe loading=\"lazy\" title=\"YouTube video player\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/auuIHRImVxA\" width=\"640\" height=\"430\" frameborder=\"0\" allowfullscreen=\"allowfullscreen\"><\/iframe><\/p>\n<p><strong>Shock increase<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>A further jump in crime could be bleak news after South Africa reported a <strong><a href=\"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/government\/514708\/south-africas-latest-crime-stats-everything-you-need-to-know-3\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">shock increase<\/a><\/strong> in crime statistics in Q1 2021\/2022, with a significant increase in cases reported across several crime categories.<\/p>\n<p>Police minister Bheki Cele said that the double-digit increase in most crime categories was attributable to the adjusted lockdown levels and distorted crime trends.<\/p>\n<p>The police minister said that while the country had seen a &#8216;holiday from crime&#8217; during the higher level 5, 4 and 3 lockdowns, the move to lighter restrictions had led to &#8216;exaggeratedly high&#8217; crime levels.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;While we will not sweep the high and unnatural figures under the carpet, we will instead bring to the fore a holistic picture of comparing the 2021\/2022 Q1 crime figures to a &#8216;normal period&#8217; two years ago where there was no lockdown.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>The increases, therefore, reflect the difference between Q1 2018\/19 and Q1 2021\/22, he said.<\/p>\n<p>Contact crimes such as murder, attempted murder, sexual offences and all categories of assault registered a 60.6% increase, compared to the corresponding period of the previous financial year.<\/p>\n<p>Cash-in-transit heists, the minister noted, increased by 142.1% year-on-year, from 19 reported incidents in April-June 2020 to 46 incidents in April-June 2021.<\/p>\n<hr \/>\n<p><strong>Read: <a href=\"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/technology\/516836\/south-africans-are-boosting-their-home-security-amid-a-growing-crime-wave\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">South Africans are boosting their home security amid a growing crime wave<\/a>.<\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>A move to an adjusted level 1 lockdown and the upcoming festive season means South Africans should brace for a surge in crime, especially cash-in-transit (CIT) robberies, experts warn.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":55,"featured_media":522254,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[15945,26],"class_list":["post-526180","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-trending","tag-fidelity-services-group","tag-headline"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/526180","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/55"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=526180"}],"version-history":[{"count":6,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/526180\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":526196,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/526180\/revisions\/526196"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/522254"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=526180"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=526180"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=526180"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}