Cape Town – Police Minister Bheki Cele says while there has been a decrease in sexual offences reported, it remained a concern that there were 10 512 rape victims in the first three months of this year.
Cele was speaking at a press briefing on Tuesday in Parliament after the Police Ministry tabled the fourth quarter crime statistics for the 2022/2023 financial year before the portfolio committee for police.
The fourth quarter covers the period from January to March 2023.
Rape cases saw a 2.8% decrease compared to the same period last year. According to the stats, 4 768 rape incidents took place at the home of the victim or at the home of the perpetrator.
About 1 843 people were sexually assaulted, a 14.9% decrease compared to last year.
However attempted sexual offences increased by 21.2%, with 663 victims.
“The difference we are seeing in the sexual offences cases can be attributed to the Family Violence, Child Protection and Sexual Offences (FCS) unit which has been strengthened and capacity. It has been boosted with more resources, funding, vehicles and staff trained to deal and understand such cases.
“Also of importance is that we have tremendously improved or reduced the DNA backlog of 241 000 cases. All those cases that have caused stagnation have been pushed and are in trials. offenders have also been sentenced. This is a step in the right direction and we do agree much more needs to be done,” said Cele.
Gauteng province led in the number of rape cases with 2 168 incidents, followed by KwaZulu-Natal at 2 130 and the Western Cape with 1 170.
About 67 incidents were committed on school premises, and six cases of rape were reported to have happened at special schools.
Cape Times