Sexual offenders list warning

NGOs working with women and children have issued a warning that the release of the sexual offenders register could lead to mob justice attacks and lawlessness.

This after President Cyril Ramaphosa announced last Thursday that he intended to motivate Parliament to make public the national register for sex offenders.

The director of The Saartjie Baartman Centre for Women and Children, Bernadine Bachar, said: “I certainly believe it has the potential to lead to mob justice that could impact negatively not only on offenders themselves, but also innocent family members and associates.”

She said the only solution to the scourge of violence against women and children were proper polices and harsher laws. “The high rates of recidivism of offenders stand to be addressed by the extension of appropriate programmes within our prisons for perpetrators of violence against women and children,” she said.

Last week, a 42-year-old SA Post Office employee made a brief appearence in the Wynberg Magistrate’s court in connection with the murder of 19-year-old UCT student Uyinene Mrwetyana. After his appearance, Khayelitsha residents set alight a house believed to belong to the accused.

Siyabulela Monakali, spokesperson of women and children advocacy group Ilitha Labantu, said the government must be cautious when releasing the list. “We need to be very careful when trying to implement something like this, because when it comes to investigations into sexual violence, people who shouldn’t be on the list are registered. And seeing what is happening in South Africa, we need a proper plan of action for the government to say what they will do.”