Pretoria - Political parties, analysts and business have welcomed the positive crime statistics, released earlier today, but urged government to intensify its efforts to fight crime even further.
The national crime statistics, covering the year ending in March 2010, showed that violent crime was generally on the decline, with murder down 8.6 percent, attempted murder down by 6.1 percent and sexual offences down by 4.4 percent.
Street robberies were down by 10.4 percent while cash-in-transit heists dropped by 7.3 percent.
The data also saw a decrease in bank robberies, which recorded an 8.8 percent drop, while truck and car hijackings are down by 6.8 percent.
A Senior Researcher at the Crime and Justice Programme at the Institute for Security Studies Johan Burger said he was quite impressed by this year's statistics. He told BuaNews it showed that police efforts were paying off. This was very "encouraging."
"All in all, we can be grateful for the overall picture presented in these crime stats, although South Africans have every right to be dissatisfied with the generally high levels of crime in the country," he said.
The stats, however, still showed police do not understand the problems sufficiently yet in order to effectively deal with them, said Burger who advised that communities can help police win the fight against crime.
He said he was "deeply concerned" about the rise in house robberies, saying it should receive serious attention.
"One's home is the one place above all where you and your family should feel safe," he said.
He also suggested that the police should beef up capacity, especially in forensics, investigators, flying squad units, specialised units and visibility.
The South African Banking Risk Information Centre (SABRIC) said they were pleased by the decrease, especially in the banking and cash-in-transit crimes, though they still remain a concern.
"We are cautiously optimistic that the continued efforts by the police to strengthen their partnerships with business and other sectors in the fight against crime will yield desired results," said Sabric CEO Kalyani Pillay.
Pillay said the banking and cash-in-transit industries would continue to work closely with the police in devising additional measures to ensure effective investigations and prosecutions as well as to support joint crime prevention initiatives.
IFP spokesperson on Police, Velaphi Ndlovu, also welcomed the downward trend in all of the major crimes. He said it showed the police's immense efforts to combat crime and make South Africa a safe place for both locals and tourists have paid off.
Ndlovu was, however, concerned by what seems to be a steady upward trend in burglaries at homes and business premises - a concern that has also been raised by Freedom Front Plus.
"The increase in crimes such as residential and business burglaries and the increase of crimes under the influence of drugs and alcohol clearly need special attention from law enforcement agencies," said Ndlovu.
According to him, police and other stakeholders must develop specific strategies to address these types of crimes, so that we are able to see a significant drop in these statistics next year.
AfriForum appealed to communities to become involved in their local community safety structures in order to play an active role in the prevention home robberies.
Spokesperson Nantes Kelder described the decreases in many crime types as a step in the right direction, but also warned that the numbers of crime incidents are still at unacceptably high levels.
The UDM urged government to continue with and intensify the implementation of special courts, as were used during the Soccer World Cup saying it could be the first step in winning the war against crime.
