Parliament's police committee has repeatedly raised the state of forensic DNA work in the South African Police Service (SAPS), and has found a shortage of rape kits in the Western Cape.

The South African Police Service Act, as amended by the Criminal Law (Forensic Procedures) Amendment Act 37 of 2013, requires samples received at the forensic laboratory to be analysed and loaded on the National Forensic DNA Database within 30 days, unless a compelling priority reason prevents it (section 15Q(1)). In a media statement dated 9 December 2025, Parliament's police committee said its members found no D1 or D7 rape kits, for adults or children, at the SAPS provincial supply chain store in Epping, Western Cape. The chairperson said the empty shelves contradict the SAPS's official assurances.

In a media statement dated 11 March 2025, the committee's chairperson said the DNA backlog exceeds 140 000 cases. The figure covers all DNA cases, not only sexual offences. The statement says the backlog persists despite interventions and reprioritised funding, that service contracts for forensic equipment have expired, and that too few police officers are trained to take buccal samples. The chairperson said he would ask the Auditor-General for a full forensic audit of SAPS DNA processing and forensic laboratories. In a statement dated 3 June 2026, the committee said it remains concerned about ongoing challenges at the SAPS Forensic Science Laboratory and that rape kits for buccal samples need immediate attention, without giving quantities.

On 14 October 2026 the National Forensic Oversight and Ethics Board told the police committee that only 3,471 of 238,707 DNA profiles generated in 2025/26 were finalised within the statutory 30 days, about 1.5%. The figures cover all DNA profiles, not only sexual offences. SAPS measures itself against a 90-day target. The committee's chairperson said the 30-day period is the legal measure, and that SAPS must still give a breakdown of outstanding forensic work on rape, sexual offences against children and murders of women and children.

In its report on statutory rape (26 August 2026), the committee records that SAPS did not give turnaround times or pending counts. No public figure shows how many sexual offence kits are waiting for analysis, or how long results take. That is what the demand below asks SAPS to publish.

The demand: SAPS publishes, annually, the number of forensic sexual offence kits in the system, the number awaiting analysis, and the average time from collection to result, audited independently, with a named target and a named deadline for the backlog.

Statistics South Africa counts live births to girls aged 10 to 14. This section sets out what the law and the SAPS instruction say about those births.

Statistics South Africa recorded 2,103 live births to girls aged 10 to 14 in 2024. The Department of Health figure for 2024/25 is 2,387 deliveries by girls aged 10 to 14, according to a report of Parliament's Portfolio Committee on Police (26 August 2026). The same report records 3,232 statutory rape cases over five years, 2020/21 to 2024/25, of which 1,853 were withdrawn and 449 ended in conviction. The DA describes girls aged 10 to 12 who give birth as victims of sexual abuse, and says many teenage mothers would have suffered abuse or coercion. The HSRC has mapped provincial hotspots for mothers under 20. Under the Sexual Offences Act, a child below the age of 12 is legally incapable of consenting to a sexual act (section 57(1)). Section 54 of the same Act requires anyone who knows of or suspects a sexual offence against a child to report it immediately to a police official, and failing to do so is an offence. Under section 110 of the Children's Act, a police official who receives a report of child abuse must ensure the child's safety and, within 24 hours, notify the provincial social development department or a designated child protection organisation. SAPS National Instruction 3 of 2008 (version 3.00, 2026) requires a fetus to be taken to the Forensic Science Laboratory as evidence, but says nothing about a live birth to a child. The Police Committee's report of 26 August 2026 proposes that every pregnancy or birth involving a child under 16 should automatically trigger a mandatory interdepartmental referral and a preliminary criminal investigation.

The demand: that SAPS, Health and the NPA adopt the Committee's proposal as a national protocol for children born of rape, so that the crimes committed against their mothers are formally recorded, investigated and, where possible, prosecuted.

The Independent Police Investigative Directorate (IPID) exists to investigate misconduct by SAPS members, including rape by police officers. IPID data for 2025/26 recorded 116 rape cases involving police officers, up from 95 the year before. IPID describes 44 of them as allegedly involving off-duty officers and 72 as involving on-duty officers. The report records 6 rapes in police custody, up from 2, all reportedly committed by inmates or civilians rather than police officers; 66 rape-by-police cases referred to the National Prosecuting Authority; and 9 criminal convictions and 19 departmental convictions for rape by a police officer. Across all crime types IPID sent SAPS 827 disciplinary recommendations: 138 were awaiting SAPS feedback and 88 were recorded as "No Steps", a term the report does not define. In its report of 14 October 2026 on IPID's 2025/26 performance, the Portfolio Committee on Police recommended that IPID prioritise rape and gender-based violence cases involving police officers and monitor progress regularly, and noted that IPID did not give a clear prioritisation protocol, investigation timeframes or details of dedicated resources. The Act requires SAPS to notify IPID within 24 hours (section 29(1)) and the Commissioner to start disciplinary proceedings within 30 days of a recommendation (section 30), and failing to do so is an offence (section 33(6)).

IPID's independence has been questioned for years. In 2017, GroundUp reported that IPID's executive director told Parliament's police committee that IPID had sought funding relief from SAPS, the body it investigates, and that IPID's reported budget increase of 5.1% did not cover anticipated inflation. In a 2017 briefing to the same committee, IPID said it relies heavily on police officers reporting the criminal conduct of other police officers. In 2016 the Constitutional Court, in McBride v Minister of Police, declared parts of the IPID Act invalid because they allowed the Minister of Police to dismiss IPID's Executive Director, and gave Parliament 24 months to amend the Act. The IPID Amendment Act of 2024 followed. The power to prosecute rests with the National Prosecuting Authority under section 20(1) of the National Prosecuting Authority Act. The GroundUp and PMG sources are from 2017.

The IPID Act already allows an IPID investigator to direct a person to submit an affidavit, appear to give evidence or produce documents (section 24(3)), and requires IPID to investigate rape by police members (section 28(1)(d)). The report counts cases at each stage but does not follow a case from complaint to outcome, and NPA decisions are given for all crime types together, so the result for the 66 rape referrals cannot be read. The demands below ask IPID, SAPS and the NPA to report, case by case and year by year, what happened to every rape complaint involving a police member.

Johannesburg Central Police Station. Photo: ISS Africa

In 2017, then Police Minister Mbalula said each police station must have a victim friendly room. In a March 2025 reply to Parliament (question NW393, 26 March 2025), the Minister of Police said 1,071 of the 1,170 police stations had access to a dedicated victim friendly facility and 99 did not. In June 2025, Parliament's Portfolio Committee on Police said it had visited 243 stations, recorded 60 incidents of non-compliance, and that SAPS had reported 95 stations without designated victim friendly rooms. The reply says 20 new dedicated facilities are rolled out each year. At that rate the 99 stations without one would take about five years to cover (calculated from the reply), and the plan is a rollout rate, not a deadline for every station. In October 2026, IOL reported a new room opening at Ndwedwe police station in KwaZulu-Natal.

The Thuthuzela Care Centre model is run by the National Prosecuting Authority. The NPA describes the centres as one-stop facilities based at hospitals and clinics, with the stated aim of minimising secondary victimisation, and says it seeks to improve the conviction rate through prosecutor-guided investigation. An NPA official told Spotlight in 2023 that matters going through the centres had a 76.5% conviction rate (June 2023), up from 60% in 2010, and that comparing them with other matters is difficult. The NPA's list of operational centres names 68. The National Strategic Plan on GBVF found that only half (52%) of Thuthuzela Care Centres have a separate entrance for perpetrators, and that victim unfriendliness at many centres contributes to secondary victimisation (p 31). Spotlight reported in 2023 that experts say more centres are needed.

SAPS National Instruction 3 of 2008 (version 3.00, 2026) requires a victim's statement to be taken in private and requires police to refer victims to a support centre such as a Thuthuzela Care Centre. It does not mention a dedicated room at every station.

The law must be enforced, not recommended.

Sinawe Thuthuzela Care Centre, Eastern Cape. © UN South Africa