Tangeni Amupadhi
Soweto police believe their “positive attitude” explains their higher conviction record for rape cases compared to their counterparts in other Johannesburg suburbs.
Although statistics indicate a pathetic one out of 400 conviction rate for rape cases, a survey on sexual violence conducted in the southern Johannesburg shows Soweto police stations are streets ahead.
“There has been a major change in attitude among our police officers,” says Director Martin Marx, in charge of crime prevention in Soweto. “Even from management side we talk of positive attitude.”
The survey was conducted by CietAfrica (Community Information, Empowerment and Transparency) in conjunction with the Southern Metropolitan Local Council.
It places Soweto police stations – Orlando, Moroka, Jabulani, Naledi and Kliptown – top of the list of 13 stations for sexual violence cases being referred to court and getting convictions.
In contrast, Johannesburg Central (previously John Vorster Square) and Hillbrow police stations, which are better equipped and have more police officers than Soweto police stations, are among the stations which performed poorly.
Last year and in 1996, Orlando police had 12 convictions out of 100 sexual violence cases, while Johannesburg Central only had one.
CietAfrica executive director Dr Neil Andersson could only guess why a well- resourced station performs poorly and traditionally under-funded precincts do better.
“A culture gets established in the police stations – either they take sexual violence seriously or they don’t.”
“Ours is a team effort,” explains Marx. He says police investigators and court officials meet regularly to discuss cases and monitor progress.
The CietAfrica survey concludes: “Soweto police stations show the most serious approach once a case has been admitted to the system … the inescapable fact emerging from this analysis is that some of the relatively well-resourced stations are consistent with Orange Farm at the bottom of the performance table, while the Soweto stations are consistently at the top.”
According to the survey, for every 394 women raped, 272 report it to the police, 17 become “cases”, one docket gets “lost”, five go to court, and eventually only one conviction is made.