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South Africa's crime statistics will be released by Police Minister Nathi Mthethwa tomorrow morning. The statistics will relate to crimes reported between 1 April 2009 and 31 March 2010 and will be the second time that statistics are released under his watch. These statistics are of utmost importance because they are not only a measure of crime levels, but also an indicator of how well government safety policies are managing to keep South Africans safe.

The regular release of crime statistics is vital in the fight against crime. It empowers local police stations and communities to respond to localised crime trends with tailored responses. Research overwhelmingly suggests that the regular release of crime statistics has a positive effect on crime fighting. Although we welcome the fact that the Minister has not reverted to the plan he mooted on television in 2009, which would have seen crime statistics released only every second year, tomorrow's statistics will already be six months out of date. The Democratic Alliance (DA) advocates real-time crime statistics that are publicly available, so that tailored and localised responses can be formulated while they are still relevant. We continue to believe that this is something to which the Minister and his department need to give serious consideration.

Last year, we saw a 1.8% reduction in the murder rate, from 18 487 murders in 2007/2008 to 18 148 murders last year. This was an average reduction of 1 murder each day in that year. We also saw a reduction in attempted murder, assault (including assault with intent to inflict grievous bodily harm) and an almost 9% drop in common robbery. There were, however, a number of significant increases in a number of key areas. For example, 2008/2009 saw a 27% increase in house robberies and a staggering 41% increase in business robberies. We also saw a 12% increase in sexual offences, again highlighting the serious damage done by the shutting down of the Family Violence, Child Protection and Sexual Offences (FCS) Unit.

It is indeed a very welcome development that the Minister has reversed Jackie Selebi's disastrous decision to shut down the FCS unit, and indeed all of the SAPS specialised units. The Minister is now in the process of re-establishing the FCS unit, which we have been told will be fully operational by the end of March 2011. We strongly urge the Minister to re-instate the other disbanded specialised units as well.

The DA welcomes this development; it followed years of lobbying from our party, and it is absolutely essential.

Crime affects all South Africans. We sincerely hope that tomorrow's statistics will show a significant drop in all levels of crime over 2009/2010, and will indicate that crime levels have not simply stabilised, but declined.