Africa-Press – South-Africa. A total of 77 gender-based violence (GBV) cases reported over the last six months in the Western Cape have been struck off the court roll due to the inefficiency of the SA Police Service (SAPS).
This was revealed in the second and third quarter reports of the Western Cape Department of Police Oversight and Community Safety’s (POCS) Court Watching Briefs unit.
According to the reports, 283 cases monitored during the six-month period at 33 courts, linked to 82 police stations across the province, were struck off the court roll.
Of these cases, 77 are GBV-related, while the other 206 matters include murder, grievous assault, aggravated robbery, possession and dealing in drugs, and possession of firearms and ammunition.
While 48 cases were withdrawn due to an incomplete investigation, 22 of the GBV cases were withdrawn as the dockets were not at the court.
The three police stations where the most dockets were not at court were Knysna with six cases, Vredendal with four, and George with three. The three police stations with the highest number of incomplete investigations are Lutzville (12), Kraaifontein (8), and Kuils River (6).
“These statistics paint a very grim picture, which deeply disturbs me. More so, that these are real people who have been dismally failed by the South African Police Service and the entire criminal system,” said Reagen Allen, Western Cape MEC of Police Oversight and Community Safety.
He continued:
He added that the indictment is damning and clear.
“Investigators work under immense strain and at times they each sit with well over 200 dockets. This failure does however not justify their inability to comply with their oath and fulfil their constitutional mandate.”
Allen said he would engage provincial police commissioner, Lieutenant General Thembisile Patekile, as he needs to establish whether the officers that have failed the citizens will be held accountable, should this not have occurred yet.
“I will not sit by and continue to allow this type of failure to persist within SAPS. The pain, suffering and injustice that the victims have to endure has to be addressed and there should be recourse for the victims.” he said.
“We have made a number of recommendations based on these findings. One of them is that SAPS should develop an improvement plan to minimise the number of cases that are struck off the roll due to their inefficiencies.”
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