Protest over lack of police action on rape
A GROUP of Langa residents, led by gender-based community organisations, demonstrated the police station at the weekend over the police’s lack of prioritisation of rape cases.
This after two cases were reported in one week. A 62-year-old man was arrested in connection with the rape a 9-year-old girl, while, in a seperate incident a young girl was allegedly raped by her stepfather last week.
In June a 25-year-old woman, allegedly raped by a family friend was allegedly assaulted, together with her mother, and pepper-sprayed by Langa police, who refused to record an official complaint.
The community demanded that the police be represented in sessions of gender-based violence, friendlier staff and transparency, with a working relationship with organisations fighting gender-based violence. They also called for reshuffling of management and staff, saying that the police were lazy, and for an abolishment of the current structure of youth crime prevention.
Langa For Men co-founder Siyabonga Khusela said the community demanded that gender-based violence cases be prioritised.
“Even if it means there is a trained officer that assesses those in line. Someone coming to report a rape should not be standing eighth in line behind people who have come to certify paperwork,” said Khusela.
“A trained officer should constantly be checking in line for a seemingly distraught complaint and if they can see someone is physically hurt or emotional, to take them aside… Bishop Lavis must have representatives who are in Langa 24/7 who will attend cases of sexual crime, instead of victims being transferred to Bishop,” he said.
Khusela said a child-friendly waiting room for child victims at the police station was underutilised.
“On three occasions… I had to sit in cold office spaces with children because the person with the key was not available. What happens in a rape case? The child needs a safe environment to avoid secondary victimisation,” Khusela said.
He said the Family Violence, Child Protection and Sexual Offences unit at the police station was unreachable 90% of the time.
Girl to Girl Drive founder Simamkele Matiwane said police needed to have an “open day” about their services, especially those focusing on women and children, to teach residents about their rights so they would know when they were infringed upon.
She said no victim should be sent home when reporting violence, no matter what the reason might be, as was seen in the past.
The Langa police station commander received the memorandum and undertook to meet the relevant stakeholders after 14 days.