‘We’re failing our women’: SAPS slated for ‘shocking’ GBV efforts

The South African Police Service (SAPS) in the Western Cape is failing to protect and deliver justice to the province’s women, according to Community Safety Minister Albert Fritz. 

With only 63% of reported cases of rape in 2020 resulting in arrests with charges being laid – and not a single conviction having been achieved – Fritz fears that the scourge of Gender Based Violence (GBV) is not being properly addressed.

No convictions after 131 rapes reported in 2020 

Fritz said on Sunday 11 April that he is concerned over the “continued disservice by SAPS to victims of gender-based violence”, saying that analysis of recently published police crime statistics for the period 1 March to 31 December 2020 – in which 131 rapes were reported to the Mitchells Plain and Letegeur police stations – makes for troubling reading.

“Of the 131 reported cases, only 83 (or 63%) resulted in arrests and saw charges being laid. After three months since the reporting period has elapsed, it is not clear what has happened to the remaining 48 cases,” he said. 

Fritz went on to say that of the 83 cases in which arrests were made, only 59 suspects are awaiting trial, with only one of these trials having actually commenced. There has not been a single conviction.

“We are failing our women. We are failing vulnerable members of our society. Imagine going through the absolute trauma of being raped, and then the ordeal of gathering up enough courage and reporting the matter to SAPS, only for the case to go nowhere. Out of 131 cases that were reported, only 1 case has reached trial. This is shocking,” he said. 

SAPS ‘inadequately geared’ to garnering convictions  

Fritz said that the Western Cape Department of Community Safety participates in various initiatives which seek to eradicate the scourge of GBV, with the departmental Court Watching Brief Unit having assigned an advocate to focus specifically on the increasingly disturbing trend. Despite these efforts, there remains a critical absence of convictions, which Fritz insists is leading to a ‘second wave” of trauma for victims of rape and sexual assault. 

“As crucially important as social services and support are, we need a functional criminal justice system that truly serves the victims of violence and crime. It is unacceptable that victims of rape and gender based violence are subjected to secondary trauma of this kind because of a criminal justice system that is inadequately geared to ensuring that perpetrators are not only charged but convicted on the basis of reliable and credible investigated evidence.”

The Community Safety Department indicated that the Western Cape Police Ombudsman  will be notified of these concerns and asked to conduct a systemic investigation into how rape cases are reported and dealt with at SAPS.

“We will then engage with SAPS to see how we, as the Provincial Government, can formally assist in trying to improve services to victims of gender-based violence, and rape specifically, as part of our overall prioritisation of safety in the province,” said Fritz.