Chairperson, I wish to inform the hon member that the establishment of the National Register for Sex Offenders as provided for in the Criminal Law (Sexual Offences and Related Matters) Amendment Act of 2007 is one of the measures that the government has put in place to protect and curb the high incidence of sexual violence perpetrated against children and the mentally disabled.
The National Register for Sex Offenders is implemented by the Department of Justice and Constitutional Development and has been progressively achieving its intended goals since its implementation in June 2009. I have been informed by the registrar that enquiries are received from a range of institutions such as the licensing authorities, hospitals, schools and aftercare facilities.
It should be noted that, due to administrative and financial challenges encountered in the initial implementation of the register, the register ended up being implemented in two phases. The first phase of the National Register for Sex Offences is fully operational and it deals with the capturing of current convictions of all people who committed sexual offences against children and mentally disabled people.
As of 30 June 2009, the names of all persons convicted of a sexual offence against a child or a mentally disabled person, or who would have been convicted but not declared as state patients in terms of section 77 and 78 of the Criminal Procedure Act, are being captured in the register as received from the registrars of the High Court and clerks of the criminal courts. Currently 2 759 names of convicted sex offenders appear in the register. The reason why the capturing of historical convictions of persons who have been convicted of sexual offences against a child or a mentally challenged person are proving difficult, is that the SAPS Criminal Record Centre has historically captured the details of the offenders, and not the information of the victims. Therefore, although a person's details might be captured as having committed a sexual offence, the SA Police Service cannot inform the registrar whether the victim was a child or a mentally challenged person. A project is therefore under way to check the details received from the SAPS against the original court files and police dockets to confirm who the victims were.
One big challenge experienced at present is that clearance certificates cannot be provided as yet because of the historical information not being in place. The matter has been addressed as indicated above. Thank you.
Thank you, House Chair, and thanks Deputy Minister for a very elaborative and encouraging response. With special regard to the high prevalence of the sexual abuse of women and children in South Africa, I wish to know if the Department of Justice and Constitutional Development and the managers of the National Register for Sex Offenders are achieving the intended and desired effects. If not, what challenges have been encountered and what steps are being taken to remedy the situation?
Chairperson, the whole question of gender-based violence and violence against children, mentally disabled people and vulnerable groups generally is not only one of the priority areas of the Department of Justice and Constitutional Development, but of the broader Justice, Crime Prevention and Security cluster.
It is in that context that we believe that this National Register for Sex Offenders can play an important role. As I have outlined in the response, a lot of effort is being put into catching up that historical backlog to make the register fully operational.
In respect of those convictions that are occurring or have occurred since June 2009, that information is already there and is accessible. As I have indicated, the registrar indicates that a range of institutions such as hospitals, schools and aftercare facilities where children and persons with mental disabilities are to be found and are potentially at risk, do make enquiries from the registrar. Thank you very much.
Mr Chair, Deputy Minister, it appears from our experience that many courts are not issuing the compulsory court order in terms of the sexual offences Act, which declares that people who have been convicted are unfit to work with children. As a result, it appears that not all the convictions that should be recorded are being recorded. Has there been any engagement with the judiciary in this regard? If so, when and what was the outcome? If not, why not? Will the Deputy Minister undertake to do so soon?
The HOUSE CHAIRPERSON(Mr C T Frolick): I wish to remind hon members that a supplementary question is just that - a supplementary question. Hon Deputy Minister, you may respond to the first one.
Chairperson, I will try to the best of my ability to respond to that. I think the hon member would appreciate that this is a fairly specific question that would require research and a follow-up for us to come back to the member. But I can just say that, in general terms, both the SA Judicial Education Institute and the Justice College have run a number of training and education programmes both for judges and magistrates as well as for court officials around the implementation of the sexual offences legislation. This is something that could have been covered in that regard. Whether it has been covered sufficiently, I think is another matter. We will revert to the member on the issue. Thank you.
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