Cape Town - Anti-gender-based violence (GBV) organisations, working in areas identified as hot spots for sexual violence in the province, have called on the provincial government and the police to focus resources on these areas.
A parliamentary response by Police Oversight and Community Safety MEC Reagen Allen on the breakdown of the reported sexual offences per police station in the province, between January 2021 and March, revealed Delft recorded the most cases at 420, followed by Harare police station in Khayelitsha at 329, and Mfuleni at 265.
Gugulethu recorded 256 cases, while in Nyanga 244 cases were reported.
The Redelinghuys police station in the Berg River Local Municipality recorded the least incidents, at only two cases.
These cases included attempt sexual offences, contact sexual offences, sexual assault, and rape.
ANC provincial spokesperson on social development Gladys Bakubaku Vos, who had asked the question, also sought details of the programmes that the Oversight and Community Safety Department had put in place to address sexual offences at each of the police stations – of the top 30 police stations – where rape and sexual assaults were reported.
“It is disappointing that the role of the provincial government in addressing this scourge only ends with police oversight, as stated by the MEC in his reply.
“This is the MEC of a department that will spend about R1.5 billion over the Medium-Term Expenditure Framework period, yet not a cent is spent to address GBV and sexual offences,” she said.
Bakubaku Vos said the ANC would reiterate its call for more GBV shelters to be established in the poor working-class communities where the majority of these incidents occurred.
Ilitha Labantu spokesperson Siyabulela Monakali said that behind the figures were lives and families affected by a scourge that, he said, needed a collective effort to bring to an end.
The Greater People of South Africa chairperson Zintle Khobeni said equal and quality police resource allocation was paramount to address the scourge of gender-based violence and femicide.
“We must also not shy away from the fact that these may not be accurate numbers, as we know that due to secondary victimisation victims are often subjected to by the criminal justice system and societal pressure to protect perpetrators.
“Many do report sexual violence and, therefore, the SAPS – including Community Safety and Policing – should work together to encourage police sensitisation programmes on GBV,” she said.
In his response, Allen said the police had, among other programmes, implemented a gender-based violence case management intervention plan, with the aim of improving service delivery to victims of such crimes.
Allen said his department was in the process of monitoring the level of compliance of police specialised units dealing with sexual offence cases, such as the Family Violence, Child Protection and Sexual Offences units.