Western Cape police do not have enough rape evidence kits, MP warns

New stock: boxes of rape kits ready for collection by police units in the Western Cape. Photos: Mary-Anne Gontsana

• This week SAPS distributed 400 adult and 200 child sexual assault evidence kits to Family Violence, Child Protection and Sexual Offences (FCS) units across the Western Cape after MPs warned stock would run out by 1 August.
• Oversight visits found shortages, expired kits and some units with no child rape kits, prompting legal action by the DA.
• DA MP Nicholas Gotsell says the kits delivered this week will not even last two weeks.
• But acting police minister Firoz Cachalia insists there is no national shortage.

Even though the Western Cape has received more rape kits and is expected to receive another batch during August, police Family Violence, Child Protection and Sexual Offences (FCS) units are only receiving a fraction of what is needed, according to DA MP Nicholas Gotsell.

On Friday, Parliament’s portfolio committee on police chairperson Ian Cameron and Gotsell conducted an oversight visit at the warehouse where sexual assault evidence collection kits are stored.

According to the distribution list, 400 D1 kits (used to examine adults) and 200 D7 kits (used to examine children under 15) were issued. These will be distributed to the province’s 25 FCS units, including Wynberg, Worcester, Beaufort West, Khayelitsha, Mitchells Plain, Nyanga, Paarl, Delft, Bishop Lavis and George.

Many FCS units will receive a D7 box and two D1 boxes (each box has ten sealed kits), but some will receive only one box of each.

The quantity an office receives depends on the provincial commissioner’s office, which considers crime statistics and rape and sexual assault demographics, a source told GroundUp.

The source said the quantity issued is not enough, and kits may not be transferred between units.

A D1 rape evidence collection kit for adults.

When MPs conducted oversight visits between December 2025 and May 2026, Gotsell said they found shortages of both kits, expired kits, and discrepancies between official SAPS reports and the actual stock at police stations. They found fewer than ten kits for adults and not a single kit for children in Nyanga, Delft, Mitchells Plain and Hermanus.

On 26 July, the DA, through its lawyers, sent acting police minister Firoz Cachalia a letter of demand to respond to the rape kit supply crisis in the Western Cape.

According to Gotsell, this came after the party learned that the provincial SAPS would not have rape kits after 1 August. Kits were then delivered on 30 July, the night before MPs visited the site.

Each kit includes a mask, gloves, brown paper bag, waxed paper, evidence collection box, round tipped swabs, water vial, and an aluminium shafted swap. Extras include evidence sealing bag, instruction leaflet, forms for the collection of forensic evidence and a zip seal bag with desiccants.

On Tuesday, Cachalia assured the public that “rape evidence collection kits are available throughout the country, and additional kits are currently being distributed as part of ongoing procurement and replenishment processes”.

The minister said, “deliveries are proceeding as planned to ensure that facilities remain adequately stocked and that services to victims are not interrupted”.

However, Gotsell said their visit on Friday confirmed “that there is a serious supply chain crisis in SAPS”.

“It is unfortunate the Minister says this is not a crisis,” he said.

“The rape kits delivered are not nearly enough to see the Western Cape through the next two weeks. It is also worrying that the minister chooses to speak to the media and does not want to give the DA any assurances that it has been asking for since May this year. We will continue with our legal action,” said Gotsell.

A D7 rape evidence collection kit for children 14-years-old and younger.

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