Government Failures Allow Child Rapists to Evade Justice

Statement by Angel Khanyile MP – DA Spokesperson on Women, Youth & People with Disabilities:

The Democratic Alliance (DA) has taken the next step in our fight to end the government’s inaction in ensuring that child rapists are caught and convicted.

The DA has already submitted a dossier of evidence to the SA Human Rights Commission for a national probe into failures by the Departments of Police, Health, Social Development, Justice and Women and Children to comply with the law on the compulsory reporting when there is suspicion of sexual abuse and thereafter investigation and prosecution.

Where a child under 16 is pregnant, there is at least a reasonable suspicion of a sexual offence, and reporting is required under the Children’s Act.

The DA also submitted questions nationally to the SAPS and the NPA, before compiling a report on the findings to the South African Human Rights Commission.

What emerged is nothing short of a national disgrace:

• Despite high levels of child pregnancy in hospitals, there is little evidence that Form 22s are being completed and submitted to the Department of Social Development or SAPS, meaning many possible statutory rape cases are not being reported or are being reported, but SAPS is failing to open cases.
• Even when cases do reach SAPS and the NPA, the criminal justice system is failing to properly investigate and prosecute allegations of statutory rape.
• Provincial departments in some provinces are working in silos, with no system in place to track a Form 22 complaint from reporting through to the final outcome.

The effect is allowing men who rape children to escape scrutiny and prosecution. To ensure that this crisis receives the urgent attention it deserves, the DA Parliamentary Leader, George Michalakis MP, has written to all DA Chief Whips in provincial legislatures, requesting that the evidence gathered by the DA be tabled before the relevant Provincial Legislature Committees.

Initiatives like dedicated provincial committees for child protection are a key way to break silos in ensuring accountability for children. This provincial committee already exists in the Western Cape.

The DA-led Western Cape government coordinates across departments to address child pregnancy and statutory rape. The Department of Health and Wellness implements Circular 83 to guide Form 22 reporting and leads collaborative sessions with SAPS and the NPA. Simultaneously, the Department of Basic Education ensures all abuse cases are referred to Social Development via Form 22, which are monitored by Circuit-Based Support Team social workers, and trains staff in the “Abuse No More” protocol to protect learner dignity during the reporting process.

The DA will continue to use every oversight mechanism available to ensure that children are protected, that the law is enforced or improved, and that perpetrators are brought to justice.