Please find attached soundbites in English and Afrikaans by Lisa Schickerling MP and in IsiZulu by Mzamo Billy MP
The Democratic Alliance is calling on the South African Police Service (SAPS) to urgently expand and properly resource its Family Violence, Child Protection and Sexual Offences (FCS) units as South Africa confronts the ongoing crisis of gender-based violence and femicide.
The recent suspected serial murders in Ekurhuleni are a chilling reminder of the devastating consequences of violent crimes against women and the importance of specialist investigators with the capacity, tools and time to identify perpetrators, connect cases and build evidence strong enough to secure convictions.
DA oversight visits to FCS units have exposed serious gaps between the resources available to specialist investigators and the operational demands placed on them.
At Khayelitsha FCS, the unit was found to be 22 members short, while detectives were carrying caseloads of between 60 and 70 dockets each, with one member reportedly carrying approximately 300 dockets because of backlog pressures.
At Nyanga FCS, only 4 of the unit’s 11 allocated vehicles were operational at the time of the oversight visit, while the unit was operating with approximately 20% of the personnel it requires to function effectively.
In Worcester, the FCS unit covers approximately 175 kilometres and services 10 police stations. Yet staffing shortages mean some stations have only three members per shift, while others have just one member per shift.
These figures demonstrate that proper resourcing cannot simply mean a bigger budget on paper. It must mean enough detectives on the ground, operational vehicles on the road, laptops and cellphones for investigators, adequate administrative support and the necessary forensic and victim-support resources where they are needed.
This is particularly concerning because FCS investigators are already delivering significant results despite these constraints. As per 2024/25 annual report, 604 offenders were sentenced to life imprisonment. SAPS also reports strong conviction and detection rates for crimes against women and children.
South Africa currently has 176 FCS units nationwide, according to SAPS. These specialist units investigate crimes involving women, children and other vulnerable groups, making their capacity critical to the country’s response to GBVF.
The issue is therefore not whether FCS investigators are capable of doing the job. The evidence shows that they are. The question is whether SAPS is giving them the capacity to do it effectively and consistently.
The DA is calling on SAPS to undertake a national FCS capacity assessment, identifying for every unit its allocated and actual personnel, detective-to-docket ratios, vehicle availability, equipment shortages and geographic coverage. This information must be used to set clear staffing and resource targets, prioritising units facing the most severe operational pressures.
The Ekurhuleni cases must prompt more than shock after the fact. They must strengthen the case for a properly resourced specialist investigative response that can identify repeat offenders, connect cases, secure evidence and ensure perpetrators face justice.
The DA will continue to use its oversight role to hold SAPS accountable for ensuring that FCS units have the personnel, vehicles, equipment and operational capacity required to do their jobs.