More than five million case dockets have been closed without result since the 2018/19 financial year. Picture: Bongani Mbatha/ Independent Newspapers
The police minister, national South African Police Service (SAPS) commissioner, and Limpopo provincial commissioner should be hauled before the Portfolio Committee on Police after it was revealed that close to 1,000 rape and sexual are closed every month without being resolved, the Democratic Alliance (DA) said.
In May, the DA posed a question to then police minister Bheki Cele, requesting the number of case dockets that were closed without results.
He revealed that over 5.4 million cases dockets had been closed, without result, due to insufficient evidence of leads, since the 2018/2019 financial year.
“Following these revelations, the DA submitted a request for information under the Promotion of Access to Information Act to obtain further details,” explained the DA's deputy spokesperson on Police, Lisa Schickerling.
“On August 7, current police minister, Senzo Mchunu furnished the DA with a detailed breakdown of the docket.”
It revealed that between 2018/19 and December 31, 2023, over 70,000 murder dockets, 61,740 rape cases and 5,523 sexual assault cases had been closed with out results.
Breakdown
Murder: 76,655
Attempted murder: 40,089
Assault GBH: 141,026
Aggravated robbery: 256,162
Rape: 61,740
Sexual Assault: 5,523
Kidnapping: 9,114
Schickerling said murder, assault GBH and aggravated robbery show the highest number of lost dockets, while 68.75% of dockets are stolen from SAPS stations, all of them from Limpopo.
“If one breaks the numbers down, approximately 974 cases of rape and sexual assault are closed without result every month,” Schickerling said.
“This means that an average of about 32 victims of rape and sexual assault lose a chance at obtaining justice each and every day,” she said.
“This is a deplorable state of affairs that requires urgent intervention from both the Minister and senior SAPS management to ensure that cases of gender-based violence and violence against women are treated with the seriousness and care that they deserve.”
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