By Amy Musgrave
The Democratic Alliance wants an emergency meeting of the portfolio committees on police, social development and justice so that they can look at coordinated interventions to deal with child rapes and other violent offences.
In August, Police Minister Senzo Mchunu revealed in reply to a DA parliamentary question that between the 2018/19 and 2023/24 financial years, 106,001 rape cases involving children were reported. That averages around 48 rape cases a day.
A total of 22,722 sexual assault cases were reported for the same period, averaging at 10 cases per day.
And 91 children were raped at school between April and June this year.
“While these statistics are shocking, not all rapes are reported, pointing to an even greater crisis than the numbers alone indicate,” DA deputy police spokesperson Lisa Schickerling said on Sunday.
“Government needs to identify a child safety strategy, build partnerships with NGOs and develop an inter-sectoral plan to promote the safety of South Africa’s children.”
She said in a statement that although 18,108 rape cases involving child victims were reported to the police in 2022/2023, only 10,435 arrests were made and only 471 child rape cases went onto the court roll.
“This glaring gap between arrests and trials points to a systemic failure in ensuring justice for the most vulnerable,” Schickerling said.
She said a collaboration between the portfolio committees would be a critical step in addressing these ongoing crises.
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