Prison stats demonstrate foreigners are not the primary source of crime — SA Police Minister
South Africa’s minister of Police, Mr Bheki Cele has sensationally claimed that data from the nation’s prisons indicates that the vast majority of crimes are not committed by foreigners.
According to a report by TimesLive, Cele is quoted as having said, “South Africa’s prisons hold almost 14,000 foreigners and about 144,000 South Africans.”
This means that just 9.72% of crimes are committed by foreigners whilst a whopping 90.28% are committed by South Africans.
This would seem to fly in the face of claims by some anti foreign organizations and citizens that foreigners are responsible for most crimes in the Southern African nation of 60m.
Cele briefed the media on Sunday to provide an update on successes achieved by the police service in response to serious and violent crimes and crime intelligence improvements.
He reportedly said that the prison stats indicate that it is not true that foreigners are the main perpetrators of crime.
“South Africa’s prisons have almost 14,000 foreigners [and about] 144,000 South Africans. So it could not be true that it’s only foreigners who are causing crime,” Cele is quoted as saying.
The Police minister added that crime intelligence-led operations have led to the arrest of more than 3,700 suspects for serious and violent crimes, including murder, extortion and kidnapping over the past 11 months.
