DA demands accurate GBVF crime data from Cachalia

The Democratic Alliance (DA) has urged Acting Police Minister Firoz Cachalia to ensure that the forthcoming crime statistics accurately reflect incidents of gender-based violence and femicide. In a letter to Cachalia, DA spokesperson on police Lisa Schickerling demanded that the South African Police Service (SAPS) rectify the issues plaguing its data and pledge to deliver the corrected figures by a specific date if they cannot meet the November deadline.

This call for accurate data comes as the government prepares to implement President Cyril Ramaphosa's latest interventions to combat gender-based violence and femicide (GBVF), including a 60-day audit of unresolved murders, attempted murders, rapes, and serious sexual offences involving women and children. The DA's demand for accurate crime data follows previous concerns raised by Cachalia himself regarding the integrity of SAPS records on crimes against women and children.

In March, Cachalia had informed IOL that SAPS was reviewing crime data systems to prevent errors in reporting cases involving women and children. Cachalia acknowledged that the data was not always properly captured and warned that publishing it in its current form could mislead both the public and policymakers. SAPS has since admitted in Parliament that its statistics on crimes against women and children are "inherently inaccurate," with the data being fundamentally flawed and unusable.

These issues include GBV offenses being counted more than once, leading to a discrepancy where the number of women and children victims exceeds the total number of victims recorded for certain crimes, such as rape. Additionally, there are inconsistencies in recording victims' ages and sexes, as well as in linking victims to the correct charges.

Schickerling highlighted these issues, questioning how government can allocate resources effectively to combat GBVF when its crime statistics are fundamentally flawed. The DA argues that inaccurate crime data obscures the true scale of the GBVF crisis, making it difficult to measure progress, allocate resources appropriately, and hold SAPS accountable.

The DA emphasizes that accurately recording this data is crucial for understanding the crisis's true magnitude and assessing the government's response. If SAPS fails to meet the November release deadline, Schickerling urges the minister to set a specific date by which corrected data will be made available. The DA also calls for all subsequent crime statistics releases to be prepared using accurate and disaggregated data, ensuring that the country gains a clear understanding of the scale of GBVF and can evaluate government's progress in addressing this crisis.