CAPE TOWN - South African MPs yesterday called on National Police Commissioner Riah Phiyega to urgently address the shortage of DNA kits for rape cases as the country is fighting high incidences of

rape.
It followed media reports that police stations are running out of DNA kits, which are used to collect forensic evidence from rape victims, and that some police stations are resorting to using expired kits.
“This is totally unacceptable, and we as the Committee strongly condemn the shortage of these kits.

The high incidences of rape around the country make the situation untenable and we urge the Commissioner to resolve this,” said Annelize van Wyk, who is the acting chairperson of the parliamentary Portfolio Committee on Police.

The committee has also urged the police to make arrests in connection with the gang rape and murder of 28-year-old Thandiswa Qubuda.

Thandiswa Qubuda was gang-raped in January this year in Grahamstown, Eastern Cape and died as the result of injuries sustained during the gang rape on Thursday last week.

“It is because of the shortage of the rape kits that many perpetrators end up not being convicted of rape even though they are guilty and this has ripple effects on society as the rapists strike again.
“Without rape kits, we lose crucial evidence which is key to the successful prosecution of rapists,” Van Wyk said.

She added: “The focus for the past years has been on detectives and forensic services.
“We need to see the results of these investments.”

South Africa faces a problem of growing abuse of women and children including violent attacks on defenseless women and girls. Over 64 000 cases of rape were  reported to the police last year, according to official statistics availed.

South African President Jacob Zuma on Thursday launched the Stop Rape Campaign in schools as part of intensifying efforts to stop the scourge of rape in the country. He pledge that “no woman or child should be beaten, raped, stabbed, shot or attacked in any manner anywhere in our country, whether by known or unknown attackers”.

Zuma said the courts already deal harshly with perpetrators found guilty of violence.
During the last financial year, the sexual offenses units secured over 363 life sentences, with a conviction rate of 73 percent for crimes against women above 18 years of age and 70 percent for crimes against children under 18 years of age.

A series of rapes, often coupled with murders, have gripped South Africa recently.
The most notorious case involves the rape and murder of teenager, 17-year-old Anene Booysen.
Booysen was raped and mutilated, allegedly by several men, on February 2, and left for dead on a building site in Bredasdorp, about 128 kilometres east of Cape Town.

The following morning she was found, still alive, by a security guard who alerted the police and she was taken to hospital, but died later the same day. - Xinhua.