Police Minister Firoz Cachalia has failed to respond to parliamentary questions about the widespread absence of rape kits at multiple police stations and Family Violence, Child Protection and Sexual Offences (FCS) units across the Western Cape.
Democratic Alliance MP Nicholas Gotsell confronted the minister in the National Council of Provinces on Monday, demanding answers about the supply chain failure that has left rape survivors without access to crucial evidence collection services.
During the debate on Budget Vote 28, Gotsell detailed findings from oversight visits he conducted between December last year and 15 May this year. The inspections revealed a systematic breakdown in the distribution of rape evidence kits to frontline facilities.
“No child rape kits in Mitchells Plain. No rape kits or child rape kits in Nyanga. No child rape kits in Bellville. No child rape kits in Delft. No rape kits in the entire Overberg,” Gotsell told parliament.
The DA spokesperson said he wrote to Cachalia and the Western Cape Provincial Commissioner three weeks ago but received no response from either office.
“Minister, I wrote to your office and the Provincial Commissioner’s office three weeks ago about this rape kits supply chain fiasco and I have not received a response from either of you,” Gotsell said.
When Cachalia delivered his five-minute reply at the end of the debate, he did not address the rape kit shortage or explain why Western Cape SAPS facilities lack these essential resources despite receiving budget allocations to procure them.
The absence of rape kits prevents police officers and forensic staff from collecting evidence from survivors within the critical window after an assault. Without this evidence, investigators cannot link perpetrators to crimes, making arrests and prosecutions nearly impossible.
Gotsell pointed out the contradiction between government’s public statements on gender-based violence and the reality on the ground.
“National Government repeatedly tells South Africans that Gender-Based Violence is a national disaster and the President himself has declared it a crisis,” he said.
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Novanews previously reported in December that an unannounced oversight visit to the SAPS Supply Chain Store in Epping found completely empty shelves with no D1 adult rape kits or D7 child rape kits in stock. Within hours of that inspection, Western Cape SAPS sent an urgent requisition to the national facility in Silverton, Pretoria, requesting 1 540 adult kits and 1 300 child kits.
In May, further oversight visits to FCS units across the province revealed critically low stock levels, with some facilities holding fewer than 10 adult rape kits and no child rape kits at all.
Anti-GBV organisation Ilitha Labantu has also demanded accountability, suggesting that rape kits are being kept in storage rather than delivered to the units where survivors report crimes.
When Cachalia, a former law professor, presented the police budget in May this year, he spoke of a “police reset agenda” to build a modern, professional and trusted service. He announced that SAPS procurement and supply chain management systems would undergo significant reform in partnership with National Treasury’s Government Technical Advisory Centre.
ALSO READ: Rape kits finally delivered to Western Cape – but crisis far from over
