Crime rate plateauing, Operation Shanela achieving desired effect - Cele

CAPE TOWN - Police Minister Bheki Cele says he believes the crime rate is plateauing and that Operation Shanela is having the desired effect of rounding up thousands of wanted criminals. 
 
Answering questions in Parliament on Wednesday afternoon, Cele said that between May - when the operation was initiated - to December, 442,000 arrests have been made. 
 
“The high-density operations have increased police visibility in communities and have, therefore, served as a deterrent to crime and indicated in the release of the third quarter crime statistics for the financial years 2023/24.

“It is clear through the number of arrests made that Operation Shanela is making its mark, and putting a dent in serious, violent and organised crime.”
 
Challenged by Democratic Alliance member of Parliament Okkie Terblanche that the government is failing in its goal to halve violent crime within a decade - a promise made by President Cyril Ramaphosa in his 2018 State of the Nation Address - Cele said no crime statistics reflected the murders of black people before 1994. 
 
“Those numbers of people that are murdered in South Africa are highly unacceptable, that’s why we are putting more resources, that’s why we are training more police, that’s why we are putting more equipment, that’s why we are putting more hours and more effort. We have reached a plateau, but remember it’s a new thing, it was never known how black people died before 1994.”