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The official opposition in the Eastern Cape says high visibility policing reduces the crime rate by up to 40%.
That's the word from the DA's Bobby Stevenson, who was commenting on the release of the crime statistics for the Eastern Cape.
He says violent crime in the province is still far too high, with the province being the murder capital of South Africa with a ratio of 52.1 murders per 100 thousand.
Stevenson says this is the highest in the country, adding that sexual offences also increased in the past financial year.
"Out of the total of 20 categories, 11 have gone up while numbers in nine categories have been reduced," Stevenson said.
"The number of reported sexual offences has increased from 9 567 to 9 897, and when looking at the crime ratio, we are the second highest in the country.
Robbery with aggravating circumstances, carjacking and robbery from businesses are also up along with drug-related offences."
"We welcome the fact that stock theft has decreased by. The high level, however, impacts on job losses as far as commercial farmers are concerned and threatens the livelihoods of communal farmers," he added.
Stevenson said "drug related offences have increased by 16.4% and this is directly related to gangsterism in the northern areas of Port Elizabeth, which is still rampant. The DA believes that the SAPS specialised drug unit, the South African Narcotics Bureau (SANAB), need to the re-established to combat this."
The rate of crime in the province would be vastly improved if SAPS in the Eastern Cape was better resourced.
"The crisis with the lack of functional vehicles at police stations in this province is a direct cause of our high rate of crime in the Eastern Cape," Stevenson said.
