Daily Dispatch catches smoke after publishing an article regarding the Eastern Cape statistics headlined: “IT’S OFFICIAL: EASTERN CAPE IS SA’S MOST DANGEROUS PROVINCE”. MEC Xolile Nqatha had a few remarks regarding this article, stating that Eastern Cape may have its own issues but being the ‘most dangerous province’ is not one of them.
Community Safety MEC Xolile Nqatha says the statistics used in the Daily Dispatch article was from Quarter 1 of 2022, which was from April up till June 2022.
Recent reports state that Nqatha “condemned in the strongest possible terms” on the article. He describes the article as “baseless, grossly, unfair and as malicious attempt aimed at undermining the work of by the provincial government to improve the safety of its residents and businesses operating in the province”.
According to statistics Eastern Cape had an increase in murder cases (18%) by more than 180 more cases. Gauteng registering the highest statistics of 24,5% (293 more cases), KwaZulu Natal registering below Eastern Cape at 15% increase, it had 219 cases, 39 than the Eastern Cape.
“It is very unfortunate that we find ourselves pushed into this corner, we’d much rather be devising strategies to improve our service. But we have a duty to defend repel any unfair and unjust conduct directed at us and put matter into context. We can’t keep quiet when our province is wrongly portrayed as the most dangerous in the country. We refuse to wear that and we will work hard to improve as the province,” said MEC Nqatha.
Nqatha encourages those who are helping combat crime in the province to continue to do so.
