Bheki Cele Says Stats Show Foreigners Make Up 14,000 of South Africa’s Prison Population

• Police Minister Bheki Cele announced that nearly 14,000 foreigners are held in South African prisons
• This challenged the notion that foreigners are the primary perpetrators of criminal behaviour in the country
• Citizens on social media expressed mixed reactions to the prison statistics disclosed by the minister

Police Minister Bheki Cele recently addressed the media. He shed light on the demographics of South Africa's prison population.

Cele shares prison statistics

Cele revealed that almost 14,000 foreigners are incarcerated in South African prisons, alongside approximately 144,000 South Africans, reported TimesLIVE.

This challenges the widespread belief that foreigners are the primary perpetrators of crime in the country.

Crime intelligence operations

Cele also shared insights into crime intelligence-led operations. According to SowetanLIVE, he said there were arrests of more than 3,700 suspects for serious and violent crimes like murder, extortion, and kidnapping over the past 11 months.

Read also

2 Mitchells Plain cops sentenced to 9 years after being found guilty of selling a docket

These operations reflect the police service's ongoing efforts to combat crime and ensure public safety.

South African citizens weigh in

The statistics came as a surprise to many South Africans. Some believe that the low number of foreigners in prisons highlights the challenges the police face in tracking down illegal immigrants involved in criminal activities.

See some comments below:

Mucha Nyatsunga said:

"Crime has no nationality. "

Lolo Kekana asked:

"How will someone who jumped the border face the law cause even if fingerprints are taken the culprit is faceless?"

Vusi Mnyandu mentioned:

"The only thing we can do as South Africans is to vote out the ANC."

Emmanuel Khumalo stated:

"This means we need to deal with criminals, not nationality."

Simphiwe Ndinisa commented:

"Clueless this one."

Lucky Matsebula added:

"Because they can't track them."

Crime stats show 4,726 women sexually assaulted

Read also

Police Minister Bheki Cele releases crime stats: 73 off-duty officers killed in the past 11 months

In another article, Briefly News reported that the Minister of Police Bheki Cele released the crime statistics for the second quarter.

The statistics revealed that murder in KwaZulu-Natal and Gauteng went down, gender-based violence decreased and fewer women and children were killed in this period. However, the country is still not out of the woods yet, as crime is still high despite the decrease in statistics.

Source: Briefly News