Still a hot spot for murder and other violent crime, Kraaifontein featured prominently in most of the top-30 rankings in the latest crime statistics.
Police Minister Bheki Cele released the crime data for the first three months of the year, on Friday June 3.
Kraaifontein is 29th in the country for contact crime, although there was a 7.8% drop in this category to 616 cases, from the 668 at the same time last year. However, the precinct is ranked fifth in the country for murders which increased by 15%, from 47 to 54 cases.
Kraaifontein is ranked 14th for attempted murder, which decreased from 45 to 34 cases; 18th for sexual offences, increasing from 51 to 53 cases; 28th for rapes, increasing by 18% from 34 to 40 cases; 11th for sexual assaults, dropping from 15 to 11 cases; 20th for common assault, dropping 8% from 241 to 222 cases; and 14th for residential robberies, dropping 20% from 45 to 36 cases.
The precinct recorded 160 residential burglaries, a slight drop from 166 last year.
Kraaifontein ranked fourth for contact-related crimes, with a 5% increase from 171 to 180 cases.
It ranked 19th for arson with five cases, down from six, and it was sixth for malicious damage to property, with 175 cases, up from 165.
Kraaifontein is number two in the category for general cases detected as a result of police action, with a 118% increase from 475 to 1 037 cases.
Stellenbosch University’s violence analyst Dr Guy Lamb attributed the high murder rate to gang conflicts and easy access to guns through corrupt police officers, legal gun owners and “networks where there is always a demand”.
It fermented a “vicious cycle” that saw Kraaifontein invariably languishing in the top rankings as a murder hot spot, he said.