Build One South Africa leader, Mmusi Maimane. (File photo)
Justice and constitutional development minister Mmamoloko Kubayi has until Friday to release the list of convicted sexual offenders and GBV perpetrators in South Africa, failing which Build One South Africa (BOSA) will embark on mass action.
“The Minister has exactly 24 hours to make good on her promise and release the list to the public. Failure to do so will leave BOSA with no choice but to embark on mass public action to demand accountability and justice,” said the party’s acting spokesperson, Roger Solomons, in a statement issued on Thursday.
Solomons said the party is holding the minister accountable for her commitment to release the list by the end of February.
TimesLive reported Kubayi saying earlier this month: “As I got into the portfolio, one of the issues reported was the need for the department to release the register, to make it public, of those who have been sentenced and convicted of GBV, to protect our children. I have agreed we will release this. My time frame is before the end of February the register will be public.”
Solomons said BOSA has been campaigning for over two years for the National Register for Sexual Offenders (NRSO) to be made public.
The party launched a petition calling for increased transparency to protect communities from sexual offenders, which has garnered nearly 20 000 signatures.
The party has also submitted a parliamentary question to Kubayi, asking whether the list in question refers to the NRSO as per the Sexual Offences and Related Matters Amendment Act, how it will be made publicly accessible, which specific crimes will be covered, and how many names will appear on the list upon publication. The minister is yet to respond, according to the party.
BOSA contends that making the NRSO public will serve as a deterrent against sexual crimes and prevent convicted offenders from remaining unidentified in society.
“Our communities deserve to know who these offenders are—those who roam our streets, enter our workplaces, and infiltrate our homes, often putting our children at risk,” the party said.
In October last year, in response to a parliamentary question from the Democratic Alliance, the minister of police said that between the financial years of 2018/2019 and 2023/2024, 106,001 rape cases involving children were reported.
“On average, this equals approximately 1,472 child rape cases per month. Or to roughly 48 rape cases per day,” said DA MP Lisa Schickerling at the time, the party’s deputy spokesperson on police.