- Cosatu says the quarterly crime statistics that showed a steep increase murder and other incidents was unsurprising.
- They called for more resourcing and additional personnel for the police.
- They also called for more attention on cybercrime, something Cosatu believed was out of control in South Africa.
The Congress of South African Trade Unions (Cosatu) said it was not surprised by Friday's quarterly crime statistics that showed an increase in most categories.
In a statement released by national spokesperson Sizwe Pamla on Sunday, the union said austerity cuts slowed down the rate of recruitment of police since 2014 "and the lack of adequate funding for law enforcement agencies is the source of this deterioration in safety standards".
"Over the past five years the police head count has declined from over 192 000 to 172 000. The announcement of an additional 12 000 intake this year is welcome but not enough when compared to 10 000 expected retirements from the SAPS, a growing population and rising levels of crime," Pamla said.
He added that there was "not enough that is being done to ensure that police have adequate resources to stem the tide of crime in the country".
The condition of police stations, broken vehicles, antiquated computers, a forensic backlog, a firearms registry riddled with corruption, all pointed to a police service badly under resourced and poorly managed, Pamla said.
"Parliament passes progressive laws empowering the SAPS and NPA to tackle corruption, cable theft and other serious crimes. Yet, they are rarely exercised by the SAPS and NPA. The inefficiencies in the courts and endless postponement of cases needs to be dealt with," said Pamla.
Cybercrime
South Africa seemed ill prepared to deal with cybercrime, he added.
"The internet has almost become universal and the most used form of personal communication and commerce. Many people apply online, access services online, some bank online, do many transactions online.
"This has led to the internet becoming a battleground of criminal gangs who are looking at it as a fertile ground to commit crimes and engage in anti-social behaviour."
Pamla said criminal organisations in South Africa were sophisticated and that government infrastructure had poor security control regarding cybercrime.
"Internet crime is a serious national security threat in South Africa because it is profitable and widespread."
Leadership in the police also had to be dealt with, Pamla said.
"They are dealing with numerous and ever-changing situations and to navigate them, they need leaders to provide guidance. Leaders need to ensure that they manage changes in culture and technology and expectations from police officers in the process of achieving the set goals."
In three months, 6 083 people were murdered in South Africa.
The high number of murders between January and March this year represented a 22% increase from the same period last year when 4 976 murders were recorded.