Will SAPS finally release LGBTIQ hate crimes stats?

 | 
08/17/2020

South African Police Commissioner Khehla Sithole has indicated that the SAPS is committed to releasing crime statistics that specify LGBTIQ hate crimes. But are these even being recorded as such? On Friday, Sithole, alongside other senior officials such as Police Minister Bheki Cele, addressed the media at the release of the quarterly crime statistics. The statistics related to crimes that occurred from the first of April to the end of June this year. They showed major decreases in crime, including a 35.8% decline in murder, but this is thought to largely be due to the coronavirus lockdown during this period. At the press briefing, a journalist from Eyewitness News asked the commissioner: “When will the SAPS include a category that specifically deals with hate crimes against homosexual people or the queer community?” Sithole responded: “I want to indicate that the hate crimes are actually part and parcel of the current scope of responding to crime, but we obviously did not look at a dedicated… approach… so we are taking the comment as an input and will then… make sure that it is part of the deliverable description…”

Regions: ,

Share this:

Latest Global News

Added on: 09/24/2023
09/22/2023
In 2012, an undocumented immigrant from Indonesia named Rio Djiwandana began his studies at Georgetown University. During his first semester, he enrolled in the …
Added on: 09/24/2023
09/23/2023
China is fuelling a global surge in mpox cases, accounting for the majority of new cases reported in September, according to the World Health …
Added on: 09/24/2023
09/23/2023
As the Turkish government has stepped up its pledges to protect family values, members of the LGBTQ community in the country say they increasingly …

Explore LGBTQ+ Issues

Other News from ,

Added on: 09/23/2023
Uganda has begun charging people under its draconian new anti-LGBT law, including two men accused of “aggravated homosexuality”, which can carry the death penalty. …
Added on: 09/22/2023
Kenya is considering the Family Protection Bill 2023, which could lead to 50-year prison sentences for non-consensual same-sex acts. Sponsored by Homa Bay Town legislator …
Added on: 09/21/2023
The 69 suspects who were arrested in Nigeria last month in connection with an alleged gay wedding have been released on bail. Over 200 people …