KwaZulu-Natal Democratic Alliance (DA) leader Francois Rodgers has called for an increase in police visibility at Inanda, north of Durban, amid a high number of rape cases in the area.
Rogers and other party leaders led a picket to commemorate Human Rights Day outside the Inanda Police Station.
Rogers says the station is among those with the highest number of rape cases nationwide.
“Inanda’s crime rate, particularly when it comes to rape and murder is the highest in the country. We feel that the police don’t give the necessary capacity, skills or equipment to be able to combat crime and this needs to be addressed.”
“Simple things like their telephones don’t work at the police station. one of the other challenges to be able to convict criminals is the backlog in DNA analysis and this backlog is intact denying justice and it needs to be addressed,” adds Rogers.
Last year, a team of social workers was dispatched to investigate an incident of rape, following reports of a 52-year-old man accused of having sex with his biological daughter for more than 12 years at Bulwer in the KwaZulu-Natal midlands.
The victim lost her mother but stayed with her sibling, the father and her stepmother.
In another rape incident last year, the Independent Police Investigative Directorate (IPID) arrested a police officer in KwaZulu-Natal for allegedly raping an eight-year-old girl.
IPID’s spokesperson, Ndileka Cola said the incident allegedly happened in 2017 and the victim was badly injured.
“It is alleged that in April 2017 the mother of the victim noticed that her 8- year-old daughter had a rash between her thighs. She tried to treat it with an ointment. Two months later the victim started urinating herself as she could not hold her pee, upon asking her daughter, she first lied about a 4-year-old boy. The mother requested her to tell the truth and the child informed her that the police officer went to their home, found her alone, locked the door and raped her,” said Cola.
