Ramaphosa vows to personally ensure each police station has rape kits
President Cyril Ramaphosa says he will personally monitor the rollout of rape kits to every single police station in the country.
Ramaphosa made the promise while answering questions in the National Council of Provinces on Thursday.
In August, the Democratic Alliance (DA) revealed that more 80% of police stations did not have rape kits while a further 69% do not have child rape kits in stock.
Without the kits evidence in reported rape cases cannot be collected, and without evidence the ability to successfully prosecute rapists diminished drastically.
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Ramaphosa told MPs that over 5000 police members have been recruited to deal with the scourge of gender-based violence.
Policewomen have also been sent to sexual offences training to deal with GBV victims who are not comfortable speaking to men.
"This training is aimed at creating a conducive setting for GBV victims especially female victims who find it difficult to report such crimes to male officers,” Ramaphosa said.
"We are now on a drive to make sure that each police station does have its own rape kits and I will be monitoring this myself because it is a matter that was raised by women."
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