Headline: Crime stats show murder decline, but killings too high

Indexed: 2026-05-22

[00:00:00]Acting Police Minister Fus Kachchalia has released the crime statistics for the fourth quarter. These of course have shown a decrease in most violent crimes including murder which was down by over 9% but there still of course that 58 people being murdered on average every day during the period under review.

[00:00:19]Let's take you live now to Scara Mafuana attending that briefing. Scar, what are you hearing coming out uh from that briefing today?

[00:00:29]Good afternoon to you Tabo and good afternoon to our viewers. And without wasting any time, we have to we have to release the acting national police commissioner. Let me go straight into the conversation with the acting netcom.

[00:00:41]Thank you so much for joining us. I think the the one of the biggest thing that came out of this briefing was the announcement by the uh acting uh uh uh police minister about the announcement of the panel which uh will look into the reforming the the the steps which you must admit that confidence was at at an alltime low. You've started with a process of vetting. You mentioned that those who are on this panel have started with that. How far will we see that vetting going?

[00:01:13]>> The vetting has started and we are grateful for the state security agency for taking up this challenge. As I indicated all of us at the left tenant general level, we have started that process is about to be concluded. It is going very well. There is cooperation from all the left tenant generals who have submitted their documents and the results of that particular vetting will be shared. The next phase is the major generals. We have already issued instruction that they must prepare. When once the left tenant general level is concluded, the major generals will then come in. We don't stop there. We do have our risk and integrity unit that is also looking at other levels. Anyone who will not make it through the lifestyle audit, other processes will have to unfold.

[00:01:57]Anyone who will be flagged, there are processes in terms of referring those that are flagged for further processing.

[00:02:03]So, we are cooperating well. The process is going very well and we believe very soon we'll be able to release the first results of the first group that was subjected to this process.

[00:02:14]>> I'm prompted to ask, are you able to take us into your confidence in terms of what those processes will be if people uh officers or members are found wanting?

[00:02:23]>> If you fail the lifestyle audits, there will be reasons. You will then have to interrogate those reasons and then deal with those reason reasons in terms of the relevant prescripts. If you are flagged, there's something that we have done, criminality, we deal with you. If there's something that we have done in terms of ill discipline, we deal with you. There are rules and regulations that allows us to then carry out the relevant processes in terms of those that would have failed this particular review. We we we are also um assisted and guided by the DPSA framework in terms of how we deal with such outcomes.

[00:02:58]But we are geared up and we are cooperating. There is nobody that has been sent to me with an indication that they are not cooperating. All the senior managers are cooperating.

[00:03:10]>> A an honest conversation about crime.

[00:03:12]That's another thing that came from this briefing that the min the acting minister mentioned.

[00:03:18]How far is that concerned when it comes to crime and and what we've detected so far? How deep rooted you think it is? If the the the minister is urging us to have a convers an honest conversation amongst society about what crime does or what crime is policing um crime is not a policing issue alone as we indicated both myself and the minister this requires a lot of conversation. This requires a whole of government approach because there are root causes that generate crime. uh the minister outlined them issues of societal issues, issues of unemployment, issues of uh quite a lot lot of things within the society, behavior within homes where these crimes are committed committed. You have seen the positive factors including the places where these crimes are taking place. So indeed these conversations as South Africans we need to have these conversations and and work together as communities as civil societies as well as stakeholders to ensure that then we assist the the police. Of course this is our mandate. We will do our work. We will do our work without fear or favor to ensure that we restore hope and we restore law and order.

[00:04:28]>> Acting commissioner. Thank you so much.

[00:04:29]You are standing next to General. I have to ask unfortunately if you could I'll just move closer to you. Thank you so much for for for ind for ind for ind for ind for ind for ind for ind for ind for ind for ind for indulging us general munazi the date was the 6th of July last year it it's almost a year I have to ask you again with the interventions that have come to to to to been it's the madanga commission there is the there was the arrow commission there is the establishment of a task team looking into the uh what's coming out of madanga are you satisfied with those interventions so far almost a year into the allegations that you uh took to the podium and and and said, >> "Yeah, well, I'm I'm I'm pretty satisfied. Um, of course, as I said earlier, our as the police is to investigate crime and and we must take the perpetrators to court and and we want to see the prosecution prosecuting cases, decisions being made by the preciding officers in court. And but when we saw that that whole value chain is being blocked and and blocked by people with authority from within the same system um we're left with no choice but to unblock it. So what we really did last year was to try and unblock the chain and and we are confident that um what we have seen happening has to some degree has allowed um the the unblocking of the justice system. Not entirely.

[00:05:53]We're not running smooth as we're supposed to. But at least there's movements that's happening. And that gives us comfort as law enforcement because there's nothing as painful as having to engage with a victim of crime, having to engage with a complainant who brings a case to you with a hope that you're going to bring justice to that person. Majority of the citizens don't necessarily understand and don't interact much with the prosecution. They don't understand and interact much with presiding officers. They only interact with the law enforcement which police and they want to see justice down. So it's a police officer that will then gather the evidence and when they collect that evidence coming from that complainant and presented evidence to the prosecution team, it's expected that the prosecution team are going to take that further and make sure that we we see the the end result is going to satisfy the complainant. But if there's a blockage in the system, you are only left with a dissatisfied complainant as a police officer. And you can't explain to this person why is the the case not process pro proceeding to the to the finalization as it's supposed to and and you then have to explain and that explanation that brings pain to police officer. You then get to be charged as a failure as a police officer because we're in the forefront. So um we were trying to um make sure that the other colleagues or other systems also from within the police we are not frustrated by the work that that has been done. A police officer that is doing his or her own job doesn't get blocked by his superiors. He's allowed to do what is employed to do and that is processed to the next level and the next level also doesn't block things and until the justice is served. So what was done last year might not have been a nice thing but what came out as a result it it's it's good for us.

[00:07:42]>> I'm I'm out of time. Just in 20 seconds do you feel vindicated?

[00:07:46]>> Well I didn't have to ask for anyone to come in and justify. I knew that we had facts. That's why right at the onset when we presented we gave the facts on things and um well obviously there were some of your colleagues and some of the analysts out there that were in doubt about what we're saying but I guess because they didn't listen carefully what we're saying so but what has come out now by different witnesses in different structures it confirms what we've been saying so as a police officer yours is to investigate crime and to bring present the facts on the table um whether the facts are confirmed or You don't necessarily worry because you are convinced that you have the fact. So being vindicated or not, I don't think it's a debate that you need to have. The reality is that we did what we are employed to do. We don't necessarily need to be applauded differently. It's a work that police officers must do.

[00:08:40]>> Generali, thank you for your time. That was Kazan Police Commissioner Generalazi. I was I did want to ask him however about the the the team that he's leading here in Ptoria National team on crime detection and prevention but we are out of time.

[00:08:58]He somewhat says he doesn't need to feel vindicated. They had to do what they had to do to unblock the blockages that were you know that crime had on some of them and their colleagues. Back to you Tabo >> Scar. Appreciate your time. Thanks so much.