Yes, Deputy Chair, as the hon Chief Whip can tell herself just by asking the question, this is a very serious matter. Perhaps that is the reason why, from the point of view of the SAPS, we decided to re-establish the Family Violence, Child Protection and Sexual Offences Unit, precisely to follow this up and ensure that there is a multidisciplinary approach in government on matters affecting particularly young girls, women and the elderly, because they are the targets of such heinous crimes.
We have always emphasised the point that there is no way that the police on their own will be able to go far in dealing with such crimes. With reference to the crime statistics that we released in September last year, we can see that the area of sexual offences, particularly rape, is an area in which we have not really made significant progress. It therefore remains a concern.
When we analyse this particular type of crime, we see that most of the people who are affected are acquaintances. That is why we emphasise the point that it is up to the police, members of society and other departments of government to ensure that we take this matter very seriously. Thank you, hon Deputy Chairperson.