Minister Cele misses his own deadline to ensure all police stations stocked with rape kits
16 October 2019
The Democratic Alliance (DA) can reveal that several police stations across the country still do not have a single rape kit in stock. DA public representatives over the past two days visited a number of police stations across the country which were identified for not having a single rape kit in stock, and we found that while there had been progress at some stations, several others did not have these crucial kits in stock.
The DA will write to the Minister of Police, Bheki Cele, to request that he urgently informs the nation which stations are still without rape kits and when these remaining police stations will be stocked.
We are disappointed that the Minister failed to meet his own deadline on Monday to ensure that all police stations would be stocked with rape kits. In August, the DA revealed that 76% of police stations did not have adult rape kits and 69% of stations do not have child rape kits in stock. Minister Cele revealed weeks later that the SAPS had signed a procurement contract with a new company that will supply a variety of evidence collection kits used in rape cases. Furthermore, in his reply to an oral question in Parliament, the Minister committed to ensuring all police stations would have rape kits by the 14th of October.
This was supposed to put an end to the national rape kit crisis, however the DA can reveal that as of Tuesday this week, the following stations did not have rape kits:
Athlone Police Station, Western Cape
Ravensmead Police Station, Western Cape
Actonville Police Station, Gauteng
Temba Police Station, Gauteng
Hammanskraal Police Station, Gauteng
Vanderbijlpark Police Station, Gauteng
Delportshoop police station, Northern Cape
Barkley West Police, Northern Cape
South Africans were given reason to be optimistic that the surge of gender-based violence and femicide across the country will be curbed when President Cyril Ramaphosa unreservedly promised to personally monitor the rollout of rape kits to every single police station in the country. However, the fact that there is still a number police stations without rape kits is a major indictment on the ANC government and raises question regarding their ability to effectively tackle gender-based violence.
The resent annual crime statistics revealed that every day almost 114 people reported being raped - an increase of 3.9% from the same period the year before.
It is of critical importance to have adequate rape kits at all police stations, so that DNA samples of offenders can be taken. Without these kits evidence in reported rape cases cannot be collected, and without evidence the ability to successfully prosecute rapists is drastically reduced.
The DA will continue to fight for the rights of rape survivors by ensuring that our police services are equipped to put criminals behind bars where they belong.
Issued by Andrew Whitfield, DA Shadow Minister of Police, 16 October 2019
