The Commission for Gender Equality (CGE) welcomed the national crime statistics presented by the South African Police Service (SAPS) recently.
CGE spokesperson Javu Baloyi released a statement this week saysing ” The stats denote a slight decrease in crimes that relate to sexual offences compared to the previous year.
“It remains encouraging that from the latest statistics, the subcategory of human contact crimes within which sexual violence appears, show a slight downward trend in the past five years of reporting. From the previous year, sexual offences have gone down by 5.6 per cent.
“From this subcategory (sexual offences), a decrease of 6.3 per cent of rape cases is recorded countrywide. The number of rape cases in the Eastern Cape remains steady, with minimal change in regards to the status quo.
“The National Police Commissioner (Ms. Riah Phiyega) noted a concern with particular reference to the situation of sexual offences in the Eastern Cape Province.
“In her address she mentioned a number of concomitant factors which contribute to the lack of decline in sexual offences in the Eastern Cape, i.e. drug abuse and other social challenges which in turn lead to the unchanging scenario in the province.
“The Police Commissioner further spoke with grave concern about the upward trend in the rape cases of the elderly females in the Eastern Cape.
“The statistics also show a decrease of 4.9 per cent in sexual assault in most provinces with the exception of Mpumalanga, Northern Cape and Western Cape.
“The statistics also show an increase in the conviction rate of crimes against women; for instance it is reported that of 1110 life sentences meted out against suspects, 653 convicted cases were crimes against women.
“When asked about the reasons for such a conviction rate as well as the decrease of sexual offences, both the Minister of Police Nathi Nhleko and the Police Commissioner made reference to the fact that public education and awareness measures on gender based violence can be attributed to the decline in sexual offences and conviction rates.”
Whilst the CGE welcomes the current crime statistics, there is still a growing concern about the lack of disaggregation of statistics within the subcategory of sexual offences and as such the data remains vague and often generalized.
Baloyi added “The fact that the crime statistics are not disaggregated, poses a challenge to those who are responsible for implementing strategies intended to mitigate the scourge of sexual offences and related crimes.
“The CGE is concerned about a number of unreported cases particularly in rural areas and gender based violence on LGBTI Communities. Therefore the apparent decline in the sexual offences crimes might not entirely tell the whole story when taking into account these factors.
“As the Commission we need to know how the police classify cases as this could be helpful in our monitoring endeavours. The fact that the crime statistics were not audited is also a worrying factor that needs to be addressed speedily.
“The perpetual problem in this regard, makes it impossible for institutions such as the CGE to allocate adequate resources into various communities and priorities according to accurate demographical information.
“Resource allocation in light of rural versus urban interventions, formal versus informal settlements, LGBTI, women, children, sex workers, and people with disabilities remains a challenge without accurate information for interventions.
“The CGE will continue to discharge its mandate by monitoring SAPS and the judiciary in order to help address the identified challenges related to the reporting of gender based violence and related offences.”
The CGE therefore encourages the public to make use of its toll – free number 0800 007 709, to report any matter that relates to gender based violence and in turn their safety and privacy will be guaranteed.
Alternatively, members of the public may also visit CGE offices which are based in all nine provinces to report such cases.
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