Sexual offences: NW authorities secure 30 convictions in a two-month window

North West law enforcement agencies secured 30 convictions for sexual offences over the course of October and November despite prevailing concerns over South Africa’s low conviction rates for gender-based violence and sexual offences.

Spokesperson for North West police, Sabata Mokgwabone, says the convictions included seven life terms and “a combined 353 years imprisonment imposed on additional accused for various sexual offences”. Two of the life sentences were handed down to men who were pinned for the separate rapes of elderly women near Vryburg in 2017 and 2018 respectively.

The cases include the 2017/18 attacks on two elderly women

In the first instance 26-year-old, Alphius Baikepi was found guilty in mid-November of accosting and raping a 76-year-old woman in Selosesha Section in Morokweng in 2017. Baikepi was linked to the crime via DNA evidence. In a second and unrelated incident 37-year-old Lucky Gaesirwe was sentenced to life for raping a 78-year-old woman at Gamorakile Section also in Morokweng. Both men had broken into the homes of the elderly women when assaulting them.

The statement by North West police comes on the heels of the 16 days of activism against gender-based violence and the release of statistics by Police Minister, Bheki Cele, regarding the spate of GBV cases reported during lockdown.

Only 3,2% of lockdown GBV offenders convicted

In September 2020, member of parliament (MP) Alexandra Abrahams of the Democratic Alliance (DA), requested a report on the number of reported GBV cases reported during lockdown alone versus convictions from Cele via the Parliament Monitoring Group’s (PMG’s), question and answer section. Cele revealed that of the 4058 people that were charged with gender-based violence during the specified period, only 130 were convicted – a 3,2 % conviction rate.

The recent convictions have been lauded by North West Police Commissioner, Sello Kwena who has called “crimes against women and children a national priority”, but signals that there is still a long way to go.

Pressure continues to mount for implementation of GBV bills

In recent weeks, the government has been facing increasing pressure from the public calling for the urgent adoption and implementation of the three key bills to fight the scourge of gender-based violence in the country.

READ: GBV bills, to address criminal justice system issues, passed to Parliament

The Domestic Violence, Sexual offences and Related Matters Amendment Bills were presented to parliament in September, and after receiving the greenlight, the public was given the opportunity to comment on the proposed amended bills. Several organisations and activists maintain the legislation will limit the loopholes that enabled perpetrators to avoid prosecution and imprisonment for such offences.