The Democratic Alliance lodged a formal complaint with the South African Human Rights Commission on 12 June 2026, citing systemic failures in reporting and prosecuting child sexual abuse cases that result in pregnancies among young girls.
In the first half of 2025, 798 children aged 10 to 14 gave birth in South Africa. Under the law, each case should have triggered a report to the South African Police Service for investigation as statutory rape. However, only 110 such births were reported to SAPS in the 2025/2026 financial year.
The DA’s Gender-Based Violence Task Team attributed the low reporting rate to shortages of rape kits, incomplete forms, staff shortages among social workers, and a lack of data sharing between hospitals, social development, and police. Its members, including Glynnis Breytenbach, Lisa Shickerling, and Michéle Clarke, conducted parliamentary questions and site visits that revealed these gaps.
SAPS data presented on 4 June 2026 showed 3,232 statutory rape cases reported over five years, with 57.3 percent withdrawn and only 14 percent resulting in convictions. A backlog of more than 150,000 unprocessed rape kits in the first quarter of 2026 adds further delays. The DA has asked the SAHRC to declare the state’s neglect unconstitutional and order an integrated tracking system across departments.
