Police Minister Nathi Mthethwa said on Thursday that the police were developing a national small business robbery strategy to fight crimes in this sector.

Nonresidential robberies spiked between 2004/5 and 2009/10 from 3 320 incidences to 14 534 cases. In the 2010/11 financial year, nonresidential robberies increased by 0.9% to 14 667 reported cases, with smaller businesses, such as spaza shops, supermarkets, taverns, schools and general dealers, hardest hit.

Government and the South African Police Service (SAPS) would consult with relevant stakeholders before finalising the strategy by the end of the year, Mthethwa said.

“This strategy will take into account the limited resources, capacity and mobility of smaller businesses to address this difficult area and to improve the situation.”

The Minister noted that small businesses did not have the same capacity and mobility as larger businesses to tackle and prevent robberies. Strong partnerships between government, the SAPS and big business had shown encouraging results in recent years.

Business Against Crime South Africa (Bacsa) said that business robberies targeting cash, in particular, remained problematic. The organisation emphasised that improved cash management practices were critical and added that it was adapting some best practices from organised business for use within the small business arena.

Nevertheless, Bacsa CEO Dr Graham Wright said in a statement that the systematic improvement in visible policing, detection and operational response, as well as actions taken by business to improve crime prevention and security, have had a direct impact on the levels of business robberies and burglaries.

He noted that information from insurance and tracking companies had shown that the business community had experienced a significant reduction in crimes against business.

In terms of insurance claims for the year, statistics showed that insurance claims related to business robberies were down between 19% and 28%, while claims for burglaries were also down between 5% and 19%.

In addition, claims for vehicle theft and hijackings also dropped significantly. This was in line with the national crime statistics for 2010/11, which showed a 23.6% decrease in car hijackings and a 29.2% decrease in truck hijackings.

Further, cash-in-transit robberies decreased by 18.7% and bank robberies by 58.1%. However, ATM blasts increased by 61.5%.

The murder rate dropped by 6.5% to 15 940 murders in 2010/11. Mthethwa pointed out that 27 000 people were killed in 1994/95.

Attempted murder decreased by 12.1% in the year, while the number of reported rapes rose from 55 097 to 56 272.

Burglary at residential premises decreased by 4.8%, after increasing by 2.7% in the previous financial year. Mthethwa attributed the improvement to, among other things, the success of the ‘Operation Duty Calls’ festive season campaign.

“The 2010/11 financial year crime statistics confirm our assertion that indeed the tide against crime is turning and that police, joined by society are gaining an upper hand against vicious criminals. The statistics, however, should serve as a motivating factor and encouragement in all our efforts,” Mthethwa said in his concluding remarks.