Pretoria - National Police Commissioner General Fannie Masemola has tendered a public apology to the victims of the Krugersdorp attack in which eight women were raped in July 2022, after their personal information was widely shared, including on social media platforms.
Last month, the Information Regulator ordered the South African Police Service to publicly apologise for “violating several provisions” of the Protection of Personal Information Act by distributing the personal information of the Krugersdorp gang-rape victims.
The information included their names and surnames, ages and physical addresses.
At the time, chairperson of the Information Regulator Pansy Tlakula said that apart from publishing an apology “prominently in all major national weekly newspapers and social media platforms”, the SAPS was also ordered to take action against its members who were responsible for the release of the information.
On Wednesday night, Masemola issued the apology, emphasising that the SAPS prioritised crimes against women.
“On behalf of the SAPS, I apologise unreservedly to the victims, in particular, and their families,” said Masemola.
“Crimes against women and children remain a priority for members of the SAPS and, in the past financial year, 386 life sentences were handed down to perpetrators of gender-based violence and femicide-related crimes… During the same period, 17 481 suspects were arrested for such crimes.”
National SAPS spokesperson Brigadier Athlenda Mathe said that following the incident, Masemola had ordered an internal departmental investigation into the matter.
“The investigation was conducted and concluded. The final report found that, indeed, the personal information of victims was released inappropriately but no ill-intent was uncovered,” said Mathe.
“This, however, still does not justify the sharing of such information,” she said.
“The information which was shared on various internal WhatsApp platforms of the SAPS sought to only mobilise all the necessary role players and resources in a bid to apprehend those responsible for this heinous crime.”
During the process of tracing the suspects, Mathe said the SAPS management of Gauteng, the relevant district, stations and units were alerted to the crime and requested to mobilise resources to trace the suspects.
“WhatsApp messages were used to communicate due to the urgency of tracing the suspects,” she said.
“Unfortunately, personal information of the above-mentioned victims were disclosed in the WhatsApp messages on SAPS WhatsApp groups, which found its way to social media,” Mathe said.
“The SAPS regrets the disclosure of such personal information and apologises to the victims of the dreadful crimes for the information breach and the hardship caused as a result.”
She said the SAPS management continued to issue directives and drive internal awareness campaigns within the SAPS in an endeavour to avoid a repeat of such information breaches.
“The management of the SAPS assures all people in South Africa of its commitment to comply with the Protection of Personal Information Act 4 of 2013,” said Mathe.
IOL