South Africa’s police minister told parliament last week that civil damages claims totalling R7.1 billion were laid against the South African Police Service in the 2011 to 2012 financial year. In fact the closing balance of civil claims in March 2012 was more than twice that.
All sides agree one thing: gun crime in South Africa is too high. But the white population of South Africa has no greater reason than others to fear gun crime, and evidence suggests that owning guns may not always make the owners, and their visitors, safer. It may do the reverse.
President Jacob Zuma gave the annual State of the Nation Address on Thursday night in Cape Town. We asked you to tell us which claims were the most significant and we fact-checked them. Some of them we are still checking. So how did he do?
Since strict gun controls came into force in 2004, gun crime in South Africa has fallen by more than 21 percent. Did the new controls cause the drop in gun crime as police claimed last week? Their data is inconclusive but cause of death figures from studies of mortuary statistics back their claim.