Cops caught on the wrong side of domestic violence war, parliament hears

In just six months, nearly 150 police officers trusted to protect the most vulnerable in society have had to face the law for violently attacking their loved ones. 

This was revealed by Maj-Gen Thokozani Mathonsi to parliament’s portfolio committee on police on Wednesday during a briefing on gender-based violence (GBV) and implementation of the Domestic Violence Act between April and September 2021. 

“When we look at members as alleged domestic violence perpetrators, we had a total of 147 members who were perpetrators of domestic violence.” 

The Western Cape had 76 perpetrators based at 41 police stations. Gauteng and the Free State each had 26 perpetrators and KwaZulu-Natal had six based at six police stations.   

This comes amid widespread condemnation of the killing of Namhla Mtwa from the Eastern Cape, who was shot dead in her driveway last month. Pictures and videos depicting the physical abuse she allegedly endured have recently surfaced. No arrests have yet been made in her case.  

So serious is the problem of domestic violence perpetrated by police officers, that the SAPS has had to confiscate 149 firearms — 75 of which were official service weapons, two licensed privately and 72 which appeared to be in possession illegally.

A total of 59 complaints were lodged against police officials for failing to open domestic violence cases, failing to file and serve protection orders and failing to render satisfactory services to victims.

Mathonsi said police officers have also fallen victim to domestic violence.

“Looking at the breakdown of members of SAPS who were victims of domestic violence, we had a total of 73 members from 50 different police stations. The Western Cape had 34 victims, Free State 19, Gauteng nine, KwaZulu-Natal reported five cases, the other provinces had two cases and below,” he said.  

With a R100m budget allocated to deal with GBV, Mathonsi said it would be used towards improving physical resources, victim-friendly facilities, training frontline officers and members of the family violence, child protection and sexual offences (FCS) unit, community awareness and crime dialogues, including communication material, inspections and compliance assessments, and support for national campaigns.

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