National Sex Offender Registry to be made public at end of February

CAPE TOWN - The National Sex Offender Registry is set to be made public at the end of February.   

It comes after Justice and Constitutional Development Minister Mmamoloko Kubayi announced the decision earlier in February.

It’s a move that activist groups have been advocating for some time.

They said it was a step towards increasing accountability for perpetrators of sexual offences.

But Advocate Bronwyn Pithey from the Women’s Legal Centre said that the decision had raised many concerns.
 
"It's really to protect people who are vulnerable from being exposed to and working in an environment with sex offenders, the recent statement by the minister that the register will become public is puzzling in the sense that first of all, there are extremely low prosecution and conviction rates of sex offenders in the country."
 
She added that they were worried that the release of the list would not make a positive change. 
 
"Again, the sex offender registry going public really does look more performative than anything from a government perspective, in the sense that we know how many cases are reported, how few are prosecuted and the low conviction rate."