Police rape complaints hit new high, oversight data shows

Rape cases involving police officers have climbed to their highest recent level, according to figures from the Independent Police Investigative Directorate, and the numbers raise hard questions about the safety of citizens who depend on the police for protection.

The oversight body registered 116 rape cases involving police officers during the 2025/26 financial year, up from 95 the year before. Of those, 44 allegedly involved officers who were off duty, while 72 involved officers on duty at the time. For members of the public, the numbers point to a troubling reality: the very institution charged with responding to violent crime is itself the subject of a growing share of serious allegations.

The increase comes as South Africa continues to grapple with high levels of gender-based violence and femicide, a crisis that touches communities across the country and places enormous strain on the justice system that victims rely on.

Forensic investigator Chad Thomas says there can be no justification for police officers implicated in gender-based violence and femicide. “There’s absolutely no excuse for any police officer involved in any form of GBVF,” he says.

According to Thomas, recent cases have included officers accused of killing their partners, becoming involved in violent disputes and, increasingly, facing allegations of rape. He argues that those responsible must be identified and removed from the police service, a step he frames as essential to public trust.

“There are going to be bad apples. There are going to be rapists among them. There are going to be hardened criminals among them. We have to root them out,” he says.

At the same time, Thomas is careful to stress that gender-based violence is not confined to the police service. “GBVF doesn’t stop within the police. It’s a nationwide issue,” he says, describing it as one of South Africa’s most underreported crimes. He points to reports of intimate partners being held hostage between 2021 and 2025 as an indication of the scale of the problem facing ordinary households.

The challenge, he says, is compounded by underreporting and a lack of confidence among victims that they will receive justice. That concern becomes even more serious when the alleged perpetrator is a police officer, because the reporting process itself runs through the institution under suspicion.

“If there’s a fear that the police aren’t going to do their job when it comes to a rapist that is from the community, now imagine trying to report a rapist that’s from the very police station where you’re trying to report it,” Thomas says.

For victims and the wider public, the figures underline a dual stake: the need for police to be held accountable when officers are implicated, and the need for a justice system that victims trust enough to use at all. The rise in registered cases suggests more allegations are reaching the oversight body. The deeper question is whether citizens can rely on the police service to confront serious wrongdoing within its own ranks while the country confronts one of its most persistent and underreported crimes.