Rape victim urges Ramaphosa intervention in court action

A Johannesburg businesswoman who survived a 15-hour rape ordeal and successfully sued the police for failing to properly investigate her attack, has challenged President Cyril Ramaphosa to get the Police Ministry to drop its appeal against her court victory. The challenge by Andy Kawa was made days after Ramaphosa, facing a blistering attack by gender and women rights activists protesting in Cape Town, promised that rape and sexual violence cases that were not properly investigated would be reviewed, notes a TimesLIVE report. In December 2010 while in Port Elizabeth, Kawa was abducted, attacked and raped for 15 hours at Kings Beach while out for a walk. Her attackers were never caught. In a scathing judgment in November 2018, following Kawa's eight-year court battle against the police, Port Elizabeth Judge Sarah Sephton found police officers were ‘grossly negligent’ in the performance of their duties in that they had failed to conduct a proper search for her after she was reported missing, and that once found they were negligent in investigating her attack. Sephton slammed the investigating officer for not following up CCTV footage and DNA evidence or ensuring that potential suspects were questioned.

The Police Ministry has lodged an appeal against Sephton’s ruling, which will be heard in the Supreme Court of Appeal on 4 October. Kawa said the appeal made it clear that the Police Minister and the President were not speaking the same language, notes TimeLIVE. ‘The President has said he will get the police to investigate cases that were not properly investigated and ensure that the police are held accountable for poorly investigated cases. In my case the judgment clearly stated that the police were negligent in their investigation into my rape, yet the Police Minister is appealing the ruling. ‘The Police Minister's motivation for appealing is that it will open the floodgates for other such cases. Instead of worrying about the floodgates being opened, the police should be worrying about fixing how cases are investigated, getting cases ready for trial and ensuring that cases are strong enough to be successfully prosecuted.’