Official reply: 12/10/11
NATIONAL ASSEMBLY
QUESTION 2778/2011
FOR WRITTEN REPLY
Date of publication on internal question paper: 16 September 2011
Internal question paper no: 29
2778. Ms N P Gcume (Cope) to ask the Minister of Social Development:
(1) Whether her department has access to information about the number of
persons who had been convicted of sexual offences against children
under 16 in the past five years; if not, what is the position in this
regard; if so,
(2) whether her department interacts with the Department of Justice and
Constitutional Development regarding such convictions; if not, why
not; if so, what are the relevant details?
NW3241E
REPLY:
1) No, the Department of Social Development (DSD) has no access to
information regarding the number of persons who have been convicted of
sexual offences against children under the age of 16 years, in the
past five years. The Department of Justice and Constitutional
Development (DoJ&CD) is aware of the requirements of the Childrenâs
Act and the responsibility it has towards providing the said
information. DoJ&CD is presently engaged in developing measures to
provide the historical information of the past five years; however,
since April 2011 DSD is receiving such information from some of the
Courts on the current convictions
2) (2) Yes, the DSD interacts with the DoJ&CD regarding the required
responsibilities as outlined by the Children's Act. Both departments
hold monthly meetings to review progress regarding the implementation
of the Children's Act which includes the provisioning of information.
DSD is currently receiving convictions from various courts in the
country. The database has 140 convictions for the period 1 April 2010
to 31 August 2011. DoJ&CD has sent out a Circular to all courts and
this has led to an improvement in the information received by DSD.
A letter was sent from my office, to the Minister of DoJ & CD in
August 2011, requesting his department, to assist DSD in obtaining the
relevant information