Johannesburg – Democratic Alliance (DA) MP Lisa Schickerling on Sunday revealed that a shocking 5,4 million case dockets of crimes including rape and murder have been closed because of insufficient evidence.
Schickerling said 974 rape and sexual assault cases were closed every month without resolution.
Schickerling said in May 2024, the former Minister of Police, Bheki Cele, revealed in an explosive parliamentary reply to a question posed by the DA that over 5,4 million case dockets were closed, without result, due to insufficient evidence or leads since the 2018/2019 financial year.
“Following these revelations, the DA immediately submitted a request for information under the Promotion of Access to Information Act, 2000 to obtain further details on these dockets,” said Schickerling.
“On 7 August 2024, the current Minister of Police Senzo Mchunu furnished the Democratic Alliance with a detailed breakdown of these dockets.”
Schickerling said the information furnished to the DA by the Minister paints a disturbing picture, particularly in light of our country’s Women’s Month celebrations.
She said it highlights key areas of concern in both docket management and the capacity and staffing shortages in the SA Police Service (SAPS) detective services.
Between 2018/2019 and 31 December 2023, the following total numbers of dockets were closed, without result, according to the Minister:
Murder: 76 655
Attempted murder: 40 089
Assault GBH: 141 026
Aggravated robbery: 256 162
Rape: 61 740
Sexual Assault: 5 523
Kidnapping: 9 114
“With respect to case dockets lost from SAPS offices, the highest numbers belong to dockets in cases of murder, assault GBH, and aggravated robbery,” Schickerling said.
“According to the Minister, 68,75% of dockets stolen from SAPS stations were open cases of rape and sexual assault (all of them in the province of Limpopo), raising serious questions about the effectiveness of docket management within the SAPS and the maintenance of docket safety.
“We call upon the Minister and National Commissioner to launch a full-scale investigation into these missing and stolen dockets.”
Schickerling said if one breaks the numbers down, approximately 974 cases of rape and sexual assault are closed without result every month.
She said this means that an average of about 32 victims of rape and sexual assault lose a chance at obtaining justice each day.
“This is a deplorable state of affairs that requires urgent intervention from both the minister and senior SAPS management to ensure that cases of gender-based violence and violence against women are treated with the seriousness and care that they deserve,” Schickerling said.
She said DA will write to the Chairperson of the Portfolio Committee on Police to request that the Minister, the National Commissioner, and the Limpopo Provincial Commissioner be brought before the Committee to discuss these matters and to present to the Committee their plans to remedy these critical failures within the SAPS.
