There has been an increase in sexual violence and rape cases in Gauteng. This was revealed by the South African Police Service (SAPS) in Gauteng when they presented the province's second-quarter crime statistics, covering the period between July and September.  

A MAJOR CONCERN

SAPS Provincial Police Commissioner Tommy Mthombeni expressed concern over the increase in sexual offences and rape cases. He said a total of 2,171 rape cases were reported to Gauteng police in the period under review. "This number is the highest of all the provinces in the country.I want to assure you as the public that for us as a police or law enforcement agency, the combating of crimes against women and children remains a priority for 365 days. For the quarter under review, Family Violence, Child Protection and Sexual Offences arrested 1,031 suspects for sexual offences. To date, of the 155 cases that were in court, 130 sexual offenders were sentenced to a combined 27 life terms and 1 042 years' imprisonment," he said.

KIDNAPPING FOR RANSOM

Meanwhile, the province has also been hit with a string of kidnapping-for-ransom where business owners were the targets. Gauteng SAPS has established a task team within its organised crime investigation division. "In this quarter the task team dealt with six kidnapping cases where a combined R75 million in ransom was demanded and all the victims were rescued. The occurrence of kidnapping for business people who are often viewed as easy targets to extort money from families is still prevalent. Our team of organised crime investigators continue to engage the relevant banks and SABRIC (South African Bank Risk Information Centre) as well to trace withdrawals in instances where a victims banking app has been used by the suspects to withdraw money," Provincial head of SAPS strategic management, David Bender said.