Minister Cele misses his own deadline to ensure all police stations stocked with rape kits
16 October 2019
The Democratic Alliance (DA) can reveal that several police stations across the country still do not have a single rape kit in stock. DA public representatives over the past two days visited a number of police stations across the country which were identified for not having a single rape kit in stock, and we found that while there had been progress at some stations, several others did not have these crucial kits in stock.
The DA will write to the Minister of Police, Bheki Cele, to request that he urgently informs the nation which stations are still without rape kits and when these remaining police stations will be stocked.
We are disappointed that the Minister failed to meet his own deadline on Monday to ensure that all police stations would be stocked with rape kits. In August, the DA revealed that 76% of police stations did not have adult rape kits and 69% of stations do not have child rape kits in stock. Minister Cele revealed weeks later that the SAPS had signed a procurement contract with a new company that will supply a variety of evidence collection kits used in rape cases. Furthermore, in his reply to an oral question in Parliament, the Minister committed to ensuring all police stations would have rape kits by the 14th of October.
This was supposed to put an end to the national rape kit crisis, however the DA can reveal that as of Tuesday this week, the following stations did not have rape kits: