03 Sep 2024

Courts of law have convicted 398 offenders in Mahalapye from 2019 to 2023.

This was said by Minister of Defence and Security, Honourable Kagiso Mmusi when answering a question in Parliament on Monday.

Minister Mmusi said the offences included rape, murder, house breaking, common nuisance, burglary and stock theft.

Regarding statistics for rape, Minister Mmusi said 445 offences were recorded from 2019 to 2023 whilst 10 of those resulted in convictions.

 “A total of 58 murder cases were recorded in the past five years and 14 of the cases were convictions whilst a total of 849 house breaking cases were recorded and 29 were convictions,” he said.

He said 1 028 cases of common nuisance were recorded in the past five years and 304 offenders were convicted by the courts of law.

He also said 260 cases of burglary were recorded in the past five years and four were convictions. “472 cases of stock theft were recorded and 37 have been convicted by the courts of law,” he added.

He further said based on the statistics provided, criminal activities had been fluctuating for the past five years, adding however house breaking had slightly increased from 168 in 2020 to 169 in 2021, which represented one per cent increase.

“Common nuisance recorded a significant increase from 171 in 2022 to 238 in 2023, which is a difference of 67 increased,” he said. Furthermore, the minister said stock theft, on the other hand, a noticeable increase was recorded from 75 in 2019 to 98 cases in 2020, which was an increase of 23 incidents.

 “Stock theft also recorded a significant increase from 87 incidents in 2022, to 154 incidents in 2023, which represents an increase of 67 cases,” he said.

He added that one butchery was closed due to proceeds linked to livestock theft while one butchery owner was convicted for stock theft related incidents.

“My ministry is not aware of any comment made with regard to the people of Mahalapye to prepare to eat vegetables only because most of the butcheries will close due to stock theft incidents,” he said.

Mahalapye West MP, Mr David Tshere had asked the minister to appraise Parliament on the status of crime in Mahalapye for the past five years.

He also asked the minister to further state how many criminal activities were recorded in terms of rape, murder, house breaking, common nuisance, burglary and livestock theft in the past five years.

 He also wanted to know the number of convictions by courts of law and  whether criminal activities had increased or decreased in the said period.

He further wanted to know the number of butcheries which were closed because their proceeds were linked to livestock theft.

Moreover, Mr Tshere asked the minister to state how many butcheries were convicted for stock theft during that period. Ends