Rape kit shortage to be resolved by month-end
Bheki Cele says police have signed a three-year contract to prevent future problems after experiencing shortages.
South African President Cyril Ramaphosa prepares to speak to a crowd of tens of thousands protesting outside parliament against gender based violence following a week of brutal murders of young South African women in Cape Town, South Africa, 05 September 2019. The protestors demanded the South African government clamp down on gender based violence. President Cyril Ramaphosa promised more stringent measure against those convicted of rape and sexual violence. University of Cape Town student Uyinene Mrwetyana was brutally raped and murdered inside the Clareinch Post Office by a post office worker earlier in the week sparking a national outcry and rolling protests in the wake of her death. EPA-EFE/NIC BOTHMA
The recent shortage of paediatric and adult rape kits will be resolved by next week, the police minister has said.
“We began to deliver [the rape kits] in August and they will all be delivered by 24 October,” said Minister Bheki Cele earlier this week.
He made the announcement as he addressed the media and members of the public in the city centre, reports Pretoria North Rekord.
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“We are very glad we signed a three-year contract so we don’t encounter the problems we encountered in the past,” Cele said.
Police stations in the north of Pretoria that were affected by the shortage of the kits were Kameeldrift, Pretoria North, and Sinoville.
The information was made available to DA shadow police minister Andrew Whitfield by national commissioner General Khehla Sitole in August when Whitfield asked about their national availability.
Cele made the announcement during the final part of a march against the ongoing scourge of gender-based violence at the Jubilee Park in Sunnyside.
He also highlighted that the police should refrain from “acting as fashion designers or advisers through victimising women according to what they were wearing”.
“When violently attacked, it is not your business to tell a woman that her skirt might be too short.”
Cele added police stations were the first sanctuary for women victims of crime and that the job of the police officers was to protect members of the public and endeavour to make the necessary arrest.
“Your job is to respond and respond quickly.”
According to the information provided to Pretoria North Rekord, there were zero paediatric and adult rape kits available at all three stations between March 31 and July 21.
Whitfield said the shortage of the rape kits was due to a delay in the awarding of the tender.
He alleged that 76% of police stations in the country did not have adult rape kits while 69% did not have paediatric kits.
“This issue has to do with the lives and dignity of the women and children of our country, the current figures indicate that SAPS has run short of over 128,000 kits with only 18,000 adult rape kits in circulation in South Africa,” Whitfield said.
He added the shortage was a “gross injustice” to those who had been raped.
“Without these kits, evidence in reported cases cannot be collected [and] without evidence the ability to successfully prosecute rapists diminishes drastically,” Whitfield said.
He added that no one deserved to become a victim of sexual violence and everything possible should be done to eradicate the crime.
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