Rape Kit Shortages Collide With Rising Sexual Offences

Statement by Nicholas Gotsell MP – DA NCOP Spokesperson on Police & Justice:

Acting Minister of Police Firoz Cachalia failed rape victims and child rape victims in Parliament when he refused to explain why SAPS stations and FCS Units across the Western Cape were operating without sufficient rape kits despite given an opportunity at the conclusion of the SAPS budget debate.

This failure is exacerbated by newly obtained information which confirms SAPS stations and FCS Units across the province are receiving only a fraction of the rape kits they themselves identified as operationally necessary based on crime trends and annual needs analyses.

At the same time sexual offences have increased in many of the very same policing areas where the DA recently found shortages or complete absences of D1 rape kits for adults and D7 rape kits for children.

SAPS planning documents show that Western Cape Provincial SAPS management have only allocated 20% of the required kits to stations across the Province.

This is the context in which Acting Minister Cachalia chose silence in Parliament this week.

He had a direct opportunity to explain why SAPS stations and FCS Units experiencing active rape and child rape cases were operating without the forensic tools needed to secure evidence and convict perpetrators.

Instead, he protected Provincial Commissioner Patekile and Supply Chain Head, Maj. Genl. Voskuil.

The implication is devastating.

When rape kits are unavailable, crucial forensic evidence may be lost forever. DNA degrades, victims wash themselves, injuries heal and cases weaken before they even reach court. The result is simple: rapists and child rapists become harder to arrest and harder to convict.

The DA has already formally written to the Acting Minister and Provincial Commissioner requesting the CAS numbers of all rape, child rape and sexual assault matters reported at the affected stations during the periods in which these shortages existed.

We will now conduct direct oversight into whether forensic evidence was properly collected and whether victims were failed by SAPS supply chain dysfunction and management failures.

The Acting Minister owes rape survivors an explanation. His continued silence increasingly appears less like oversight failure and more like protection for those responsible.