Community Safety

The South African Police Service informed me as follows:

         (a) (i)    Financial Year 2014/15 – 200 children murdered in the Western Cape

                (ii)   Financial Year 2015/16 – 169 children murdered in the Western Cape

                (iii)  Financial Year 2016/17 – 123 children murdered in the Western Cape

                        (only 9months statistics – statistics not released yet)

         (b)

(i) 2014 - 2015	(ii) 2015 - 2016	(iii) 2016 - 2017 (9months)
Athlone	Atlantis	Atlantis
Atlantis	Beaufort West	Athlone
Beaufort West	Belhar	Beaufort West
Belhar	Bellville South	Bishop Lavis
Bishop Lavis	Bishop Lavis	Ceres
Bredasdorp	Bonnievale	Clanwilliam
Ceres	Bredasdorp	Cloetesville
Citrusdal	Citrusdal	Conville
Conville	Cloetesville	Delft
Da Gamaskop	Delft	Elsies River
Darling	Durbanville	Franschhoek
Delft	Elsies River	George
Durbanville	Graafwater	Gugulethu
Dysselsdorp	Grabouw	Harare
Elsies River	Grassy Park	Khayelitsha
Gans Bay	Groot Brakrivier	Kleinvlei
Grabouw	Gugulethu	Knysna
Grassy Park	Harare	Kraaifontein
Groot Brakrivier	Khayelitsha	Kuils River
Gugulethu	Kirstenhof	Kwanonqaba
Harare	Klapmuts	Langa
Hout Bay	Knysna	Lingelethu West
Kensington	Kraaifontein	Macassar
Khayelitsha	Kuils River	Manenberg
Kirstenhof	Kwanonqaba	Mfuleni
Klapmuts	Laaiplek	Milnerton
Kleinvlei	Ladismith	Mitchells Plain
Knysna	Langa	Montagu
Kraaifontein	Langebaan	Nyanga
Kuils River	Lentegeur	Ocean View
Kwanokuthula	Lingelethu West	Oudtshoorn
Kwanonqaba	Lutzville	Paarl East
Langa	Manenberg	Pacaltsdorp
Lentegeur	Mbekweni	Philippi
Macassar	Mfuleni	Philippi East
Malmesbury	Milnerton	Ravensmead
Manenberg	Mitchells Plain	Steenberg
Mbekweni	Muizenberg	Stellenbosch
Mfuleni	Nyanga	Strand
Mitchells Plain	Ocean View	Tulbagh
Montagu	Oudtshoorn	Vanrhynsdorp
Muizenberg	Paarl East	Villiersdorp
Nyanga	Philippi	Worcester
Ocean View	Philippi East	END
Paarl East	Ravensmead
Parow	Saldanha
Philippi	Somerset West
Philippi East	Steenberg
Plettenberg Bay	Stellenbosch
Prince Alfred Hamlet	Thembalethu
Ravensmead	Uniondale
Saldanha	Woodstock
Somerset West	END
Steenberg
Stellenbosch
Strand
Swellendam
Table View
Villiersdorp
Vredenburg
Wellington
Worcester
END

(c)         A child murder committee was established during 2016 by the National Prosecuting Authority (NPA), SAPS, the Department of Social Development, The Department of Health, The Child Institute of South Africa and Forensic Pathology, Western Cape. A monthly meeting in this regard is attended by SAPS, during which inter alia murder cases whereby children were the victims are being handed over to the Directorate: Public Prosecutors (DPP). These cases are being discussed by the committee and identified problems are channelled to the various departments for intervention. The DPP issues instructions on all outstanding and required investigation in order to expedite the case.

Child Murder Cases are being returned to the SAPS from the DPP and subsequently monitored by officers from the Provincial Detectives, to ensure compliance with the DPP’s instructions.

Department’s response:

The Watching Brief unit in my department monitors all types of cases at our courts in the Province. The unit is able to monitor cases reported on in the media or referred to the department.  In so doing the unit is able to ensure proper investigations are done by consulting with the investigating officers on these matters.  Currently the Watching Brief unit is monitoring eight child murder cases. 

(d)         Response received from Department of Justice & Constitutional Development:

              This office has also been informed by the National Prosecuting Authority (NPA) that the DPP’s office only commenced recording the murder conviction rates in 2017/2018 financial year and unfortunately do not distinguish between adults and children.