By: Palesa Legodi

The South African Police Service (SAPS) has yet to officially release the latest gender-based violence SAPS.

In June, the Portfolio Committee on Police took police to task over the omission of data on crimes against women and children, specifically murder, attempted murder and assault with intent to cause grievous bodily harm (GBH), from the fourth quarter crime statistics for the 2024/25 financial year.

Following a meeting, the committee then requested police explain the reason for the omission.

Portfolio chairperson, Ian Cameron, then wrote to the Minister of Police and the National Commissioner of Police requesting a written report.

Responding to questions from IOL, the committee said according to the SAPS national commissioner, SAPS decided to withdraw previously reported data in order to resolve challenges encountered.

“The committee takes the matter of data-led policing seriously and is of the view that accurate statistics are essential to inform resource allocation and focus on hotspot areas,” the committee said.

It added that it has received a written response from police and has afforded them the space to resolve the matter and re-table credible and scientifically correct stats.

However, to date, the committee has yet to hear when exactly the missing data will be released.

“Since the challenges with the methodology did not only impact the 4th quarter statistics, it is only fair to assume that the SAPS need adequate time to retabulate and arrive at credible statistics.

“But because the SAPS reports quarterly on the overall crime statistics, the committee expects that the 1st quarter crime statistics will include disaggregated data on crimes against women and children, specifically murder, attempted murder, and assault with intent to cause grievous bodily harm (GBH),” the committee said.

The committee stated that if need be, it can still invoke its powers as per the National Assembly rules if the matter is not adequately addressed. Also, the committee expects to receive credible and complete data sets when the next set of statistics is released.

SAPS national spokesperson, Brigadier Athlenda Mathe, said, “statistics were under review to ensure accuracy before being made public”.

IOL

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