Eleven years of alleged rapes, and the suspect was guarding the NPA's door
29 September 2026
For immediate release
MISA, the Motor Industry Staff Association, is deeply disturbed to learn that a security officer who guarded the offices of the National Prosecuting Authority (NPA) in Durban is allegedly a rapist that the South African Police Service (SAPS) has been searching for a decade.
The man allegedly waged a reign of terror in and around Durban and Pietermaritzburg between 2014 and 2025.It is alleged that he followed women home from taverns and broke into the homes of women living alone. He was linked to the attacks through DNA, although his profile was not on the national DNA database. He appeared on fifteen counts of rape.
Martlé Keyter, MISA’s Chief Executive Officer: Operations, says his arrests raise serious concern about the vetting procedures followed by private security companies appointed to ensure the safety of those working in the criminal justice system.
This arrest also highlights how crucial a proper functional Forensic Science Laboratory is to the South African Police Service (SAPS). This is central to solving murders, rapes, shootings, robberies and drug-related crimes, but has become overwhelmed by unprecedented backlogs, infrastructure decay, critical staff shortages, poor resource management and systemic misgovernance.
In July, the Acting Police Minister told Parliament this Laboratory is sitting on a backlog of approximately 300 000 DNA entries. Of these, 251,427 are reference samples already taken from known individuals but not yet processed. Entries wait an average of about 800 days to be processed. Many of these are cases related to rape, murder and sexual offences against children.
An unprocessed sample cannot be matched to anything. While it sits on a shelf, the evidence waits, and so do the survivors. The Portfolio Committee on Police have blamed expired equipment contracts and too few officers trained to take samples.
"How many rapists are walking free because a quarter of a million DNA samples are sitting on a shelf? This case shows what DNA can do. No survivor should be left waiting because the evidence in her case is stuck in a laboratory queue,” says Keyter.
MISA demands that the SAPS must publish a clear, funded plan to clear the DNA backlog. Our members leave home before dawn and return after dark. Many of them are women. Their safety cannot depend on a system this far behind.
Issued on behalf of MISA by Sonja Carstens, Manager of MISA's Media & Communication Department. For Media enquiries please contact Phakamile Hlubi-Majola, MISA’s Spokesperson, on 083 367 6417 or email [email protected].
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