My fellow South African,
Every day, South Africans pay the price for a broken criminal justice system.
A criminal justice system is meant to work like a chain. First, criminals must be caught. Then they must be convicted. Then sentences, parole and rehabilitation must be properly managed. And while all of this happens, our communities must be kept clean, orderly and safe.
But in South Africa, every link in this chain is badly broken.
Too many criminals are not caught, because policing is weak, detective services are overwhelmed, and crime intelligence has been hollowed out.
And the few criminals who are caught are not convicted because investigations are poor, dockets go missing, witnesses are failed, and prosecutions collapse.
This week I visited Mabopane and Winterveld in Pretoria with DA Tshwane Mayoral Candidate Cilliers Brink. We met a rape survivor, a mother whose son has been missing for years, CPF members, and residents during a door-to-door visit.
Their stories were heartbreaking. They were also a powerful reminder that the state is failing victims at the very moment they most need protection, dignity and justice.
In the past two weeks, DA MPs Ian Cameron, Nicholas Gotsell and Lisa Schickerling have conducted oversight visits at SAPS facilities across the country. Their findings are astounding. In some facilities, officers have reportedly had to ration or borrow sexual-offence evidence collection kits, while SAPS systems could not clearly show whether the right kits were available at the right stations when victims needed them.
In a country where a woman is raped every 12 minutes, this is indefensible. No survivor should arrive at a police station only to find that the state is not ready to help her build a case. A government that cannot ensure the right evidence kit is available at the right police station at the right time cannot claim to be serious about fighting GBV.
That is why, following my visit to Mabopane and Winterveld, I requested DA MPs and public representatives across South Africa to conduct oversight visits at SAPS facilities in their communities. We will push locally to ensure that sexual-offence evidence collection kits are properly stocked at police stations and FCS units. And we will push nationally to fix the SAPS logistics, supply-chain and detective systems that are failing victims before their cases even reach court.
The DA is on the side of GBV survivors. We are on the side of families who want answers. We are on the side of communities who want to live without fear.
This is why the DA’s crime campaign is built on three clear actionable priorities:
CATCH. CONVICT. CLEAN UP.
CATCH means fixing policing. A DA-led national government will professionalise SAPS, strengthen detective services, rebuild crime intelligence, fight corruption in the police, and give more crime-fighting powers to capable provincial and local governments.
CONVICT means rebuilding the justice system so that arrests lead to consequences. A DA-led national government will support stronger prosecutions, better case preparation, faster court processes, and a justice system that puts victims first.
CLEAN UP means restoring order in our communities. Crime thrives where government disappears. When streetlights are broken, parks are neglected, illegal dumping spreads and public spaces become unsafe, criminals move in. That is why DA governments focus on working infrastructure, visible law enforcement, clean public spaces, bylaw enforcement and faster emergency response.
The DA does not control the national criminal justice system. SAPS, prosecutions, courts, prisons and parole are all controlled by ANC and FF+ ministers nationally. And for years before, the ANC allowed this system to weaken.
But decline is not inevitable.
Where the DA governs, we show that government can work. We show that communities can be cleaner, safer and better run. We show that law and order can be restored when leaders are serious, honest and focused on delivery.
A DA-led national government will fix the whole criminal justice chain.
We will catch criminals.
We will convict criminals.
We will clean up communities.
Because South Africans deserve to feel safe again. Together we can build a South Africa that works – for everyone.
Yours in the fight
Geordin Hill-Lewis
Federal Leader