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Minister of Justice and Correctional Services Ronald Lamola confirmed that 3123 convicted sex offenders were listed on the National Register for Sex Offenders. (NRSO) between January 2017 and November 2021.
According to a province-by-province breakdown provided by Lamola, it appears that KwaZulu-Natal holds the most registered sex offenders.
Lamola made this revelation in a written parliamentary response to DA MP Désirée van der Walt, who inquired about the total number of offenders registered on the NRSO in each province.
Lamola’s breakdown revealed that KZN led the provinces, with Western and Eastern Cape coming in second and third, respectively.
Looking at the registered sex offenders per province:
- KwaZulu-Natal: 640
- Western Cape: 561
- Eastern Cape: 478
- Free State: 422
- Gauteng: 283
- Mpumalanga: 252
- Limpopo: 224
- North West: 197
- Northern Cape: 66
According to Lamola, the data sets kept in the Register are constantly changing due to the day-to-day activities performed in the Register. This includes the addition and deletion of sex offenders’ information.
“As permitted by section 51 of the Criminal Law (Sexual Offences and Related Matters) Amendment Act, 2007, certain registered offenders do apply to the Registrar to have their particulars removed from the Register. After consideration by the Registrar, some of these applications become successful and this results in constant changes in the total number of sex offenders registered on the Register.”
He further highlighted that the figures above exclude the backlog of 1 972 applications accumulated during the Department’s system downtime.
The downtime halted entry into the NRSO from 6 September 2021 to 19 November 2021. “A Performance Recovery Plan has been developed to speedily eliminate this backlog, and a systems’ enhancement process has also begun,” he explained.
In light of the states, the Democratic Alliance Women’s Network (DAWN) in Limpopo is deeply concerned by Lamola’s response.
While Minister Lamola stated that there are 3 123 active cases on the NRSO, the 2019/2020 annual SAPS crime statistics show that a shocking number of children were sexually assaulted. 24 000, to quote figures.
“Furthermore, for the period 1 January 2019 to 31 December 2020 there were only 1 315 sex offenders registered on the database,” DAWN explained in a statement.
These statistics disturbingly translate to a mere 5.4% conviction rate for sexual offences committed against children.
Adding to this, the women’s network states, “As DAWN, we are outraged that the Department of Justice has a backlog of 1972 Form 8 Applications, which are mandatory applications for employers to establish if an employee who works directly with children or persons with disabilities is registered on the NRSO.”
Furthermore, the women’s network emphasised that this failure to perform is unacceptable amidst a sexual violence epidemic. Mainly since it primarily affects our most vulnerable members of society.
“Our hands are tied to fight the scourge of gender-based violence if we do not have accurate and real-time statistics and reliable information at our disposal.”
DAWN
DAWN is now reiterating its demand for a detailed breakdown of all sexual offence cases in SAPS statistics.
This includes detailed information on all sexual offences committed against children and people with disabilities.
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