The Democratic Alliance (DA) has written to Acting Police Minister Firoz Cachalia demanding that the next release of national crime statistics include accurate, disaggregated figures on crimes against women and children.

The letter, issued today, Sunday by DA police spokesperson Lisa Schickerling, also calls for a firm date for corrected data if the South African Police Service (SAPS) cannot meet its November deadline.

Schickerling said SAPS had admitted to Parliament that its statistics on crimes against women and children were “inherently inaccurate”, citing duplicate counting of victims, inconsistencies in recording ages and sexes, and errors linking victims to charges.

The DA says the flaws obscure the scale of the gender-based violence and femicide (GBVF) crisis, which was declared a national disaster in November 2025, and make it difficult to measure progress, allocate resources and hold police accountable.

“If SAPS cannot meet the November deadline, the minister must set a firm date for corrected data,” Schickerling said. “We need accurate numbers to fight this crisis.”

The party wants the detailed breakdown to be included in every subsequent quarterly crime statistics release.

Cachalia previously acknowledged the problem, saying the publication of the women-and-children figures could “mislead the public and policy makers”. He said a team had been established to address data-capture errors at police stations, but no firm date had been given for the full implementation and reporting of a dedicated GBV marker.

The DA argues that without reliable victim data, the crime statistics cannot properly measure the progress of President Cyril Ramaphosa’s recently announced four-point plan to tackle GBVF.

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