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At least 10 gender-based violence (GBV) cases in Kraaifontein were struck of the court roll within six months due to police inefficiencies as a result of excessive work loads.
This, according to the Western Cape Department of Police Oversight and Community Safety (POCS).
These 10 cases formed part of a sample batch of 243 other cases linked to 58 police stations in the province, monitored in court by the department’s Court Watching Briefs (CWB) unit between April 2023 and September 2023. In total, of the 243 cases monitored, 89 are GBV related, and withdrawn for several reasons such as dockets not being in court, incomplete investigations, witnesses not being subpoenaed or the accused not being brought to court.
In Kraaifontein, GBV cases struck of the roll at Blue Down’s Magistrates’ Court include one attempted murder, six assaults and three contraventions of protection orders.
Western Cape minister of police oversight and community safety, Reagen Allen, said the statistics leave a bitter taste in his mouth.
“The continued GBV that is plaguing our society must come to an immediate end. The way the South African Police Service, and by extension the entire criminal justice system, is failing these individuals, often among the most vulnerable in our communities, will never be acceptable.
“It is further concerning that these are just the cases we have monitored and might not paint a full picture of the reality. The criminal justice system has to do better.”
Disciplinary action
The CWB unit initiated in 2013 is an initiative of POCS to enhance their ability to perform oversight of the police as mandated by Section 206(3) of the Constitution, and has since been adopted by all other provinces in the country, to measure the efficiency of police investigations.
Allen says police officers have excessive workloads, having more than 200 dockets to investigate, which does not help them as investigators, nor the persons who have been violated.
“This failure does however not justify their inability to comply with their oath and fulfil their constitutional mandate.”
In certain instances, disciplinary action has been taken against some police members related to the cases, he adds.
In the coming weeks Allan will be engaging both the Western Cape provincial police commissioner, Lt Gen Thembisile Patekile, and the Western Cape director of public prosecutions, Advocate Nicolette Bell, to gain insight into what can be improved on to ensure these types of results are not repeated.
“The pain, suffering and injustice that the victims have to endure has to be addressed and there should be recourse for the victims. We have made several recommendations based on these findings, including that the police should develop an improvement plan to minimise the number of cases that are struck off the roll due to their inefficiencies.
“We are not merely conducting a tick boxing exercise.
“We want our oversight to lead to better service delivery. It is critical that police is credible and trustworthy, while delivering a service that is professional and of the highest standard, which ultimately protects and serves individuals often deeply affected by crime,” says Allan.
