Action Society is calling on the Department of Justice to immediately publish the National Register for Sex Offenders (NRSO) after the Minister of Justice failed to keep her public commitment to make the register accessible to the public by February 2025. Eight months later, there is still no public register, and the Department has provided no credible explanation.
“Every day that this register remains hidden, children are placed at risk,” says Juanita du Preez, spokesperson for Action Society. “This is not a technical delay. It is a moral failure that allows predators to continue hiding in plain sight. Government has promised transparency, yet continues to protect the privacy of offenders instead of the safety of our children.”
Recent figures underline the urgency. The Education Labour Relations Council recorded 111 cases of sexual harassment or abuse of learners by educators during the 2024/25 year, an increase from 82 cases the previous year. A South African Council for Educators study found 474 cases of sexual offences by teachers between 2019 and 2022, while Statistics South Africa’s report Crime Against Children 2022/23 shows that nearly 40 percent of all reported rape victims in South Africa are children under the age of 18.
Action Society has been calling for the publication of the NRSO for more than five years. In 2020, the organisation launched its Know Your Neighbour campaign to give parents access to information about people who have contact with their children. In 2021, it welcomed the expansion of the register but warned that it would be meaningless if it remained inaccessible to the public. Since then, Action Society has repeatedly exposed the dysfunction of the register, the failure to vet individuals working with children, and the ongoing risk this poses to communities.
The organisation’s work on multiple active cases demonstrates the cost of this secrecy. In Hanover Park, Action Society is conducting oversight in the case of a nine-year-old girl who was lured into a home and raped by a 51-year-old parolee who had already been convicted of raping a ten-year-old child. In Delft, Action Society has intervened in the case of a 15-year-old girl who was raped by her pastor, calling on the prosecution to deny the accused bail and protect other potential victims. In Mfuleni, the organisation continues to assist the family of a four-year-old girl known as Poppy, who was molested by an elderly crèche transport driver, raising serious concerns about child safety and the lack of vetting for individuals in positions of trust.
According to Du Preez, these cases are not isolated incidents but examples of a system that consistently fails to protect the vulnerable. “When a convicted rapist on parole, a pastor or a childcare worker can freely reoffend, we know that the system is broken. The NRSO is not a bureaucratic exercise; it is a tool that could save lives if used properly.”
Action Society demands that the Department of Justice and Constitutional Development publish the full National Register for Sex Offenders in a format that is publicly accessible and searchable in line with international best practice. The Department must also provide a clear and immediate timeline for publication and implementation. Every person who works with or has access to children should be vetted against the register before being placed in any position of trust. Communities must be notified when registered offenders are released on parole or relocate to new areas, and the Department must publish quarterly reports on the number of offenders added to the register and the progress toward full publication.
“The government has delayed for too long,” concludes Du Preez. “This register was meant to protect the most vulnerable members of our society. Every day of inaction endangers another child. South Africans have a right to know who the predators are in their midst.”
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