23 Mar 2023

Police in No. 16 District have recorded a 31 per cent increase in crimes related to property.

Mahalapye District chairperson, Mr Bantlhasetse Merementsi, said this during the ongoing full council meeting.

Between October and December 2022, Mr Merementsi said the police recorded 199 offences compared to 152 incidents in the same period in 2022. However, he said the offences also included stock theft, store breakings and theft, theft of motor vehicles, burglary and theft.

Under stock theft, he said 67 cases were recorded. He said cattle and goats were the most stolen livestock, adding that it was evident that farmers were not taking care of their animals. The hardest hit areas, he noted, were cattle posts around Mahalapye and Machaneng.

He said farmers in the Machaneng area left their small stock at the lands and spent nights at their villages thereby creating an opportunity for livestock rustlers to steal their animals undisturbed at night. He added that most of the cases were undetected.

He also said it had been established that some butchery owners around Mahalapye were engaged in receiving suspected stolen cattle and that their carcasses ended up in their businesses.

On offences relating to persons, the Mahalapye District chairperson said the police recorded 83 cases, adding that they experienced a 21 per cent reduction in cases.

He noted that the offences included defilement, rape, attempted rape, threat to kill, murder and attempted murder. He also said all the offences had decreased except the threat to kill where 11 cases were recorded against the set target of six.

Mr Merementsi said most of the cases occurred at drinking places after misunderstandings fuelled by alcohol.

He reasoned that the reduction in offences was due to public education and school outreach programmes which were conducted by the police across the district to sensitise people on gender based violence (GBV).

Mr Merementsi also said the police were conducting outreach programmes in schools and kgotla meetings on GBV in order to curb the prevalence of such offences.

On traffic accidents, he said they recorded 7 599 cases against the set target of 6 423. However, he noted that there was a decrease in fatal accident as they recorded one against the target of five.

The achievement, the chairperson said, was due to strategies put in place by the police such as 24 hour highway patrols, daily sporadic roadblocks across the district, month end drunken driving operations, daily road side lectures and speed traps.ENDS