59 SAPS officers charged with sexual assault

Of the 2,057 South African Police Service (SAPS) officers in the Western Cape charged with violent misconduct since 2012, a recent parliamentary reply indicates that 59 of these officers were charged with sexual assault.

The breakdown of the disciplinary actions per offence is inconsistent, as the reply from SAPS indicates that all 59 officers faced disciplinary action, but later states that four of these officers had “no steps taken” against them. I have submitted further questions to SAPS via parliament to ascertain how these four officers were indeed disciplined with no steps taken against them, and more importantly, why there was no action taken in this regard.

Other notable facts arising from this reply indicate that 16 of these officers were dismissed, 16 were found not guilty, 8 resigned and complaints against 7 officers were withdrawn. This, however, does not account for the four officers who had no disciplinary proceedings instituted against them. SAPS stipulated that their “consequence management” serves to prevent police officers from engaging in sexual misconduct, which is vague, and obviously ineffective considering the facts.

Between the 59 officers charged with sexual assault since 2012, and the current DNA case backlog of over 27 000 specimens related to sexual offences, conditions for women in our country remain severe. The vagueness and inconsistencies in this parliamentary reply raise questions about SAPS’s ambivalence to the serious issues of Gender-Based Violence and sexual offences. It is entirely unacceptable to have a situation where officers are either lightly reprimanded or face no consequences at all for perpetrating heinous acts against women in our province.

National Government has failed to enforce discipline within the police force, resulting in a situation where women cannot trust the people sworn to protect them. The DA believes that we cannot create a free society until the dignity of women is upheld and respected. This begins with efficient DNA case processing and holding abusive officers to account.

Source