Sol Plaatje must turn streetlights on for festive season
| by Ofentse Mokae – DA Spokesperson of Transport, Safety & Liaison |
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| Date: 16 October 2019 |
| Release: Immediate |
| The Democratic Alliance in the Northern Cape is deeply concerned by the inability of the South African Police Service (SAPS) to address the growing spate of sexual offences due to persisting out of stocks of rape kits.Following oversight inspections to four police stations between yesterday and today, all of which were previously found to have zero stock of adult and child rape kits, I was horrified to establish that little has changed since the DA’s Shadow Minister of Police, Andrew Whitfield, exposed the countrywide matter more than two months ago.The rural police stations in Barkley West and Delportshoop did not have any rape kits on site. Due to not having adequately trained police officers, they instead rely on the Family Violence, Child Protection and Sexual Offences Investigations unit (FCS) from Kimberley, which is situated 34 kilometres and 64 kilometres away respectively, to attend to rape victims. Rape victims thus give their initial statement at the said police stations but then have to wait for one of the two teams from the Witdam FCS unit in Kimberley, to arrive. This can take hours, depending on the workload of the FSC unit and undoubtedly contributes to secondary trauma faced by the victim.At the same time, the Witdam FCS unit was found to be out of stock of the D1 rape kits. In fact, they last received one box, with 10 kits in it, two months ago. The D1 kit is essential for taking samples of bodily fluids and ultimately ensuring justice for rape victims. While the police use alternate kits in the DA’s absence, these kits are not as effective and ultimately impact on the successful prosecution of rapists.The police in the province seem to have no idea when they will receive more of the critical rape kits. The issue is out of their hands, as it apparently involves a national contract.The DA will be writing to the MEC of Transport, Safety and Liaison, Nontobeko Vilakazi to report our findings to her and to call for an urgent intervention with regards to the lack of rape kits.Until the basics are in place to fight the scourge of sexual violence that has gripped this province and this nation, we will unfortunately not see a reduction in gender-based violence. |
| Media Enquiries |
| Ofentse MokaeDA Spokesperson of Transport, Safety & Liaison076 108 3264 Shelley De WittResearcher082 847 1387 |
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