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The National Prosecuting Authority (NPA) failed to disclose any sexual offences statistics in its 2010/2011 Annual Report, despite having done so for the last four years. However, in yesterday’s meeting of the Justice and Constitutional Development portfolio committee, members were informed that the conviction rate for sexual offences in 2010/11 was 68%. The problem is - 68% of what?

According to the NPA, the reason for the absence of the sexual offences data is that the sexual offences courts, which were supposed to only deal with sexual offences, have also been handling other types of criminal matters. This supposedly compromised the data, meaning that accurate statistics could not be obtained for 2010/11.

However, the NPA has reported sexual offences data for the last four years, despite these courts handling multiple types of cases in those years as well. There is no reason why they cannot continue reporting in the same way.

To make matters worse, the Department of Justice, which in last year’s annual report gave details of the outcomes of court cases relating to sexual offences, has this year given absolutely none.

The justice system’s obfuscation on the matter of this data is preventing the effective monitoring and management of the high prevalence of sexual offences in our country.
The fact that no reliable statistics have been kept under Menzi Simelane’s leadership, firstly in his capacity as Director General of the Department of Justice, and now as National Director Public Prosecutions, indicates a lack of seriousness in dealing with these offences. In a climate where we hear of serious sexual offences almost every day, this is unforgivable.

The criminal justice system cannot be allowed to continue to fail the victims of sexual offences. I shall be asking regular follow up questions of the Minister to ascertain what progress is being made this year.