Just one Family, Child and Sexual Crime unit for every 6.5 police stations

14 June 2017

The DA is deeply concerned by data released today showing that on average just one in every 6.5 SAPS Stations around South Africa have Family Violence, Child Protection and Sexual Offence (FCS) units.

This shocking statistic is contained in in a report tabled by the Commission for Gender Equality (CGE) entitled ‘Struggling to meet the ends of justice: Assessing Departmental Responses to CGE findings on the Victims Charter.’

Minister Mbalula has recently made many comments about the SAPS commitment to addressing the extremely high levels of violence against women and children, yet the fact that approximately one in six police stations have a FCS unit does not support his claims. In light of the current crisis of domestic violence and sexual offences, the DA believes there should be more FCS units, especially in hotspot areas.

These units are vital as they are the spearhead of investigating any reported child abuse or exploitation, rape and domestic abuse, to ensure that victims receive justice for the hurt of the ordeals they have been through at the hands of perpetrators, who are made to face the consequences of their criminality through convictions.

This is a direct failure of National Government, which, under the ANC has neglected the protection of women and children, and survivors of rape and abuse. The ANC government should hang its head in shame that a survivor is still unlikely to receive speedy justice and see their abusers appropriately punished.

I will request that Minister Mbalula urgently and fully account to Parliament for the ongoing gaps in FCS units investigative capacity.

The stark reality is that the SAPS are simply not equipped to effectively address violence against women and children, along with serious resourcing failings by government that hamstring the SAPS.

Mbalula must get his focus onto the resourcing of our SAPS, stop wasting time on objectiveless twitter campaigns, and get serious about what victims and survivors of crime need.

If we are going to bring down the unacceptably high levels of violence against women and children, we cannot accept that just one FCS unit has to cover 6.5 stations.

Issued by Zakhele Mbhele, DA Shadow Minister of Police, 14 June 2017