South Africa: Cape Town plagued by an upsurge in violent crime

#Other countries : The tourist city of Cape Town, located in the south-west of South Africa, is plagued by an upsurge in violent crimes now perpetrated even in the most secure areas, South African expert Eldred de Klerk said on Wednesday .

“The latest city crime figures reveal a shift in where violent crime occurs, with criminals brazenly committing their crimes even in the upscale suburbs and busiest streets of the city’s Corniche, located on the Atlantic coast,” said Mr. de Klerk, senior associate at the African Center for Security and Intelligence.

The Cape has been rocked in recent weeks by a series of deadly gun attacks. In the past eight days, local authorities have reported 13 people murdered in four separate shootings. At least eight other people, including two teenagers and a child, were injured.

While the police services suspect that the majority of incidents could be linked to gang activity or taxi-related violence, De Klerk believes that the investigations carried out are superficial for lack of sufficient means, which does not allow to elucidate the true motives of these crimes.

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“We don’t know what’s behind all these recent gun attacks. Sometimes cases are labeled very early without really taking the time to investigate. This hampers investigations and distracts from real answers. “, he explained.

For his part, the community safety officer in the Western Cape province, Reagen Allen, lamented that the fight against gun violence is ineffective, noting that convictions for gang-related crimes are extremely low.

Pointing out that successful prosecutions in the province accounted for only 2%, he said the only way to ensure that detectives are effective in their investigations is to provide them with adequate material and human resources.

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“The detectives in the province deal with an average of 250 cases, which represents a very high figure which does not allow for satisfactory results”, he regretted, reiterating the calls launched by the government of the Western Cape for the decentralization of the police.

An international report published last March ranked Cape Town among the most dangerous cities in the world. This major tourist hub in South Africa ranks 11th globally in terms of crime, according to the Mexican Council for Public Safety and Criminal Justice.