Parliamentary oversight visits found shortages of sexual assault evidence kits and discrepancies in police stock records
The South African Police Service (SAPS) has until Tuesday, 30 June to ensure that all Western Cape police stations are stocked with child rape kits.
Last week, the chairperson of Parliament's select committee on security and justice, Jane Mananiso, said oversight visits to various police stations by MPs had revealed shortages of rape kits for children and forensic laboratory backlogs in sexual offence cases.
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Between December 2025 and May 2026, MPs and other representatives conducted oversight visits to police stations and Family Violence, Child Protection and Sexual Offences Units (FCS).
DA MP Nicholas Gotsell said they found shortages of D1 and D7 sexual assault evidence collection kits, expired kits, and discrepancies between official SAPS reports and the actual stock available at police stations and units. A D1 kit is used to examine adults; a D7 kit is used to examine children under 13.
They found fewer than ten rape kits for adults and not a single rape kit for children at units in Nyanga, Delft, Mitchells Plain and Hermanus.
"We need to understand why they are not given sufficient rape kits and DNA kits. There is something wrong in the supply chain," said Gotsell.
Rape Crisis's Rape Survivors Justice Campaign's advocacy coordinator, Mandisa Mbotshelwa, said the organisation was aware of the issue.
"There should be a budget made available so that the FCS units always have rape kits. Many survivors are children, and it is especially worrying that there were none available for children."
"If this is the situation in urban areas, imagine how much more difficult it is in rural areas. The provision of post-rape care is essential, and that includes support in dealing with the criminal justice system. We argue for a legal framework that will end this type of problem," said Mbotshelwa.
Mananiso said the committee understood that R1.6-billion would be allocated to FCS units for gender-based violence and femicide.
She said victim-centred policing, improvement of investigations, faster case management and stronger survivor support were a priority.
Gotsell said he had written to acting Minister of Police Firoz Cachalia in May about the shortage of rape kits. "The minister has still not answered me," he said.
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"The chairperson also has an opportunity to call the minister to account," said Gotsell.
