The Democratic Alliance (DA) said it expects to receive the delayed first quarter crime statistics through its pending Promotion of Access to Information Act (PAIA)  request on November 27, and threatened to release them if Acting Police Minister Firoz Cachalia does not do so by November 28, as he had promised to Parliament.

Last month, the party submitted a PAIA request to compel the South African Police Service (Saps) and Cachalia to release the delayed first quarter crime statistics.

DA spokesperson on Police Lisa Schickerling said despite repeated promises, there had still been no clarity or accountability from the Ministry or Saps on why the first quarter crime statistics had not been made public.

“Should Cachalia fail to table the full stats publicly the following day (November 28), as he promised, the DA will release the information ourselves,” said Schickerling.

She pointed out that with 16 Days of Activism beginning on November 25, the figures must include the full set of gender-based violence (GBV) and child crime statistics that had been withheld for more than a year.

“The country is entering a period dedicated to confronting violence against women and children, yet the very data needed to expose the scale of the crisis remains hidden,” she argued.