{"id":760607,"date":"2024-03-16T07:00:00","date_gmt":"2024-03-16T05:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/?p=760607"},"modified":"2024-03-15T15:15:11","modified_gmt":"2024-03-15T13:15:11","slug":"schools-in-south-africa-are-beefing-up-security","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/lifestyle\/760607\/schools-in-south-africa-are-beefing-up-security\/","title":{"rendered":"Schools in South Africa are beefing up security"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p>Concerns over the increase in kidnapping cases in Gauteng have motivated some schools in the province to upgrade security measures to better protect their learners.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Experts have warned South Africans that cases of kidnappings have skyrocketed by 260% in the country over a decade \u2013 including those for ransom \u2013 and Gauteng is a hotspot province.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The South African Police Service (SAPS) latest crime report showed that kidnappings have increased by 11% year-on-year to 4,577 cases over the period \u2013 working out to roughly 51 kidnappings a day in South Africa.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The report also noted that the main reasons for these kidnappings are ransom, human tracking, and extortion.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Ransom-demanded kidnappings increased by 7.8% year-on-year in the third quarter of 2023.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Additionally, while kidnapping for ransom makes up only 5% of the cases, it still works out to around two people being kidnapped for ransom per day in the country.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-embed is-type-wp-embed is-provider-businesstech wp-block-embed-businesstech\"><div class=\"wp-block-embed__wrapper\">\n<blockquote class=\"wp-embedded-content\" data-secret=\"bldi2EfovA\"><a href=\"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/lifestyle\/758223\/this-type-of-crime-has-quadrupled-in-south-africa-and-everyone-is-at-risk\/\">This type of crime has quadrupled in South Africa \u2013 and everyone is at risk<\/a><\/blockquote><iframe loading=\"lazy\" class=\"wp-embedded-content\" sandbox=\"allow-scripts\" security=\"restricted\" style=\"position: absolute; clip: rect(1px, 1px, 1px, 1px);\" title=\"&#8220;This type of crime has quadrupled in South Africa \u2013 and everyone is at risk&#8221; &#8212; BusinessTech\" src=\"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/lifestyle\/758223\/this-type-of-crime-has-quadrupled-in-south-africa-and-everyone-is-at-risk\/embed\/#?secret=EDgj4c0nBU#?secret=bldi2EfovA\" data-secret=\"bldi2EfovA\" width=\"500\" height=\"282\" frameborder=\"0\" marginwidth=\"0\" marginheight=\"0\" scrolling=\"no\"><\/iframe>\n<\/div><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p>Considering these statistics, the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=FHr8VLMcwRA\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Gauteng Department of Education is concerned<\/a> about the safety of children on the premises of schools, especially outside the gates when waiting to be fetched from school. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>However, the department said it had identified the most at-risk schools based on situational data from the SAPS to improve security measures. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>&#8220;Our children need to be safe at all times, and we have made an effort to increase security measures such as more cameras and personnel at the relevant schools,&#8221; said Gauteng health MEC Steve Mabona. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The SAPS added that &#8211; while there hasn&#8217;t been a notable increase in pupils being kidnapped from schools &#8211; it has put together a team to be prepared for all eventualities. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>&#8220;If there is a spike in cases [of pupils being kidnapped], we have a task team which is led by the organised crime unit. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>We also work closely with security companies to coordinate efforts to remain vigilant,&#8221; said Gauteng police commissioner Tommy Mthombeni. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>According to the <a href=\"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/lifestyle\/758223\/this-type-of-crime-has-quadrupled-in-south-africa-and-everyone-is-at-risk\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">SAPS\u2019 data<\/a>, Gauteng is by far the main hotspot province for kidnappings in South Africa, according to 2,367 (51.7%) of all cases reported in Q3 2023, showing an increase of 19.9% year-on-year.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The only other provinces to record higher increases in reported kidnappings are the North West (29.6%) and the Free State (26.5%) \u2013 however, they only accounted for 416 kidnappings combined.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Additionally, Gauteng is home to 23 (77%) of the 30 kidnapping hotspot areas in South Africa.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The top five hotspot areas are:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<ol class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li><strong>Moroka<\/strong>&nbsp;\u2013 Johannesburg<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>Loate<\/strong>&nbsp;\u2013 Tshwane<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>Orange Farms<\/strong>&nbsp;\u2013 Sedibeng<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>Tembisa<\/strong>&nbsp;\u2013 Ekurhuleni<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>Umlazi<\/strong>&nbsp;\u2013 eThekwini<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n\n\n\n<hr class=\"wp-block-separator has-alpha-channel-opacity\"\/>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Read: <a href=\"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/lifestyle\/760213\/the-most-violent-cities-in-south-africa-with-a-new-number-1-ranking-among-the-worst-of-the-worst-in-the-world\/\">The most violent cities in South Africa \u2013 with a new number 1 ranking among the worst of the worst in the world<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>A notable increase in a specific crime has motivated some schools to increase security measures in South Africa.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":10,"featured_media":707126,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[9876],"tags":[7472,853],"class_list":["post-760607","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-lifestyle","tag-enca","tag-south-africa"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/760607","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\/10"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=760607"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/760607\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":760891,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/760607\/revisions\/760891"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/707126"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=760607"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=760607"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=760607"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}