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The Democratic Alliance (DA) calls on the Minister of Police, Nathi Mthethwa, during these 16 Days of Activism for No Violence against Women and Children to at last furnish us with concrete proposals as to how and when the reconstitution of the Family Violence, Child Protection and Sexual Offences (FCS) units will take place. Minister Mthethwa has hinted a number of times over the past 12 months that these extremely effective specialised units, which were disbanded at the orders of Jackie Selebi, will be reconstituted, but although we have heard much talk, we have seen absolutely no action. Indeed, the minister recently stated in response to a DA parliamentary question that "it is not, at this time, possible to give an exact date by when the units will be established". These units were, and ought to become again, an integral part of our efforts to tackle violence against women and children. Every day, 83 women are victims of sexual offences in South Africa and 7 women are murdered every single day in our country, whilst a child is raped every 3 minutes. While the ANC set about centralising the entire Police Service, disbanding specialised and semi-autonomous units and ignoring the fact that international best practice acknowledges the need and expansion of these kinds of units, the DA along with major civil society groups like Rapcan and the Tshwaranang Legal Advocacy Centre (TLAC) have repeatedly, since 2006, called for the reintroduction of FCS units, on the back of clear cut evidence that their disbandment had harmful effects on victims of crime, and detection rates. Research from TLAC indicates that FCS detectives make 20 percent more arrests and have 20 percent fewer cases withdrawn, while a Rapcan study released in March this year confirmed an array of problems with the shutting down of the FCS units, and came to the conclusion that this decision signified "an absence of political will in government and the SAPS in relation to the prioritisation of victims, especially in terms of crimes against women and children." There can be no harsher indictment of a government than one which goes out of its way to impede efforts to support victims of violent crime, and the Rapcan report in particular ought to have sent shockwaves across the country. With due respect to the minister, the mountain of evidence that he has been presented with made it impossible for him not to announce a policy u-turn; what is gravely disappointing is the lethargy he has showed in actually implementing these units again. In many cases the infrastructure is still there; the detectives with specialised training, but who have subsequently been doing ordinary desk work, are still there; and there is now ample evidence that these units are needed again. So it is time for the Minister to stop promising and start delivering - either he is serious about combating crimes against women and children, or he is not. Actions speak louder than words. Let's see some action from him on FCS units in these 16 days.