Dear Editor
A parliamentary reply reveals that the Western Cape Court Watching Brief (CWB) Unit monitored and recorded 161 cases related to gender-based violence, femicide and sexual offences from December last year until August 2021. In the majority of such cases, it is indicated that DNA evidence was unavailable within a reasonable timeframe, leading to delays in a speedy court trial for accused perpetrators of heinous crimes, including rape.
It must be made clear that the number of such cases might very well be higher than 161. This is because the CWB monitors a sample of all court cases for the purpose of highlighting potential police inefficiencies. In this way, the CWB is a critical tool to aid the furtherance of justice, and one which only the Western Cape Government carries out.
I have now written to the Provincial Commissioner of the South African Police Services (SAPS), Maj. Gen. Thembisile Patekile, to determine what actions have been taken in light of the CWB report. As prescribed by the Western Cape Community Safety Act (2013), the Provincial Commissioner needs to give attention to and act upon this report.
Earlier this month, we made public that 37,647 sexual offence cases are backlogged at the SAPS Forensic Science Laboratory and I submitted a dossier to the President’s National Council on Gender-Based Violence on behalf of residents on this crucial matter. This highlighted that the DNA specimens are backlogged as a result of SAPS mismanagement in Pretoria, where a failed tendering process to ensure the maintenance of the DNA processing machines dates back to 2019.
The Presidency batted our dossier off to Police Minister Bheki Cele’s office which, to date, has not responded. Instead, Minister Cele prefers to either tour the beaches of Cape Town or tell residents the lie that this province receives the “lion’s share” of policing resource – a statement contradicted by his very own budget speech, in which the Western Cape places 4th.
We maintain that National Government must immediately give real meaning to their various pledges on ending the war against sexual assault, GBV, and femicide. This starts by equipping our forensic science laboratories, supporting our men and women in blue, and taking every possible measure to keep all residents safe.
Regards
Gillion Bosman, MPP
DA WC Spokesperson for Social Development
