BOSA says public sexual offenders list important for parents to protect children

JOHANNESBURG - Build One South Africa (BOSA) said a public sexual offenders list is important for parents to protect their children against predators.  

On Friday, the Justice Ministry missed its deadline to publish the sex offenders list, citing privacy legislation issues.  

The list would have made public every person in the country who has been convicted of a sexual assault crime.  

In 2024, the National Association of School Governing Bodies (NASGB) released a report showing about 16,000 teachers in the country had criminal records.  

The crimes included rape, sexual assault, and assault, among others.  

The report exposed weaknesses in the vetting of teachers, something BOSA deputy leader Nobuntu Hlazo-Webster said a public registry would fix.  

“Because as a woman, as a parent, I am able to check and see if this person who is coming to my house, coming to my workplace, if this doctor my children are going to, I am going to, is not on the sex offenders list.”  

A new deadline for the publication of the list is yet to be announced by the Department of Justice.  

PUBLIC INTEREST, SAFETY SHOULD TRUMP PRIVACY LAWS

BOSA said public interest and safety should trump privacy laws when it comes to the release of the sex offenders list.  

Hlazo-Webster said the country’s privacy laws are something the Department of Justice should have thought of before announcing they would make the list public.  

“Convictions in this country and proceedings that take place in court are actually public. The reason we are asking for the registry to be made public is this is a direct way of finding out - it’s not information that’s not public. 

“Secondly, the POPI [Protection of Personal Information] Act says if information is proven to be in the public interest, then it can be made public and if the law mandates the information to be made public.”