Cybercrime investigation is a relatively new addition to law enforcement responsibility, but this does not imply tardiness on the part of specialist police and detectives who have investigated thousands of cases since 2022.
Successful prosecutions are nowhere near the number of investigations, Democratic Alliance (DA) National Assembly (NA) Member of Parliament (MP) Damien Klopper found by way of November questions asked of Police Minister Senzo Mchunu and his Cabinet colleague responsible for the Justice and Constitutional Development portfolio (at that time Thembi Simelane).
Mchunu told Klopper 2 679 cybercrime cases were reported and opened in the 2022/23 and 2023/24 financial terms. 2 652 cases were investigated in this time, but only 33 referrals were made to the National Prosecuting Authority (NPA) in 2022/23 and a total of 50 cybercrime cases were referred to the NPA in the 2023/24 financial year.
Read the full story on ProtectionWeb here.
