THE PREVALENCE OF ORGANISED CROSS-BORDER CRIMES IN SOUTH AFRICA: A NON-EMPIRICAL STATISTICAL DATA ANALYSIS ON STOCK THEFT AND HIJACKING OF MOTOR VEHICLES

One of the greatest quotes by the former Kaizer Chiefs Football Club (FC) and current (2018) Bloemfontein Celtic FC coach (Steve Komphela) reads as follows: “We did not play well, but we won, we now have to wait for the next team. We go on; we hope to improve from here. [Statistics are like a bikini, they do not reveal everything]” uttered after an unconvincing win (Soccer Laduma, 2015). The purpose of this paper is not to discuss the above quotation, however, to illustrate that there is truth in it when assessing the prevalence of hijacking of motor vehicles (carjacking) and stock theft (livestock) statistics as part of organised crossborder crimes in South Africa. Ewi (2017) provides that organised (cross-border) crimes are becoming serious and growing menace in South Africa, with its debilitating social and economic effects on the country, this requires immediate attention. However, the sources of organised crime and its perpetrators are highly contested. National Stock Theft Prevention Forum (2017) provides that the release of the crime statistics by the South African Police Service (SAPS) on 3 March 2017 to the Portfolio Committee was awaited with enthusiasm as it was the first time in years to be made available on quarterly basis. The major challenge on these statistics was that for so many years’ crime statistics were only provided per year. The release of these statistics; now in a trimester period provided an opportunity to make comparisons and conclusions. The SAPS and Statistics South Africa (Stats South Africa) reported an increase of 3% in non-reporting and a 2% increase in livestock theft underlining the argument of the three kinds of lies: lies, damned lies, and statistics as popularised in United States by Mark Twain (among others), attributing it to the British Prime Minister Benjamin Disraeli. The Victims of Crime Survey [VOCS] (2015/16) records that about 86,9% of incidents of hijacking of motor vehicles were reported to the local SAPS. Furthermore, this crime was the most reported individual, registering between 80% -100% incident during the period 2012 and 2015/16. Hijacking of motor vehicles (43,3%) were further mostly reported to insurance companies and guns were mainly used by perpetrators when committing this crime (75,5%). This paper adopted a quantitative research approach, with the use of systematic review of literature, mainly focusing on hijacking of motor vehicle and stock theft available statistical data. Prior research has presented these statistics without comparing financial years of the selected crimes. The present study fills this lacuna by comparing statistics restricted from 2007-to-2018 across South Africa (i.e. 10 years’ projection). The most important findings of this paper are that the prevalence of hijacking of motor vehicles and stock theft is common and highly organised in nature, while the statistical significance remains inconsistent, leading to weak and doubtful reliance and arguments on them by the masses and it is recommended that the relevant stakeholders must initiate channels characterised by accurate, valid and reliable information, coupled with proper joint intelligence operations and strong compatible national legislations. Communities should provide detailed information on these crime activities, more reliance on community policing for information sharing.