Petition To Declare A Moratorium on Parole for Sex Offenders

Dear Minister Lamola

Re: Moratorium on Parole for Sex Offenders

We are writing to you on behalf of the 1,237 people who signed an online petition calling for your leadership to declare a moratorium on paroles for convicted sex offenders. Below is the motivation for this request:

“The President, on behalf of the State, apologized to the Van Wyk family on the senseless death of their daughter Tazne who was brutally murdered by a perpetrator with numerous prior convictions yet was out on parole. Furthermore, the President admitted to the family and in public that the State failed young Tazne! We, therefore, demand that he immediately declares a moratorium on paroles for convicted sex offenders. This request for a moratorium on these paroles is out of concern for public safety and should be deemed consistent with the necessary emergency response to the current state of emergency on Gender-Based Violence and Femicide (GBVF) in the country. Many women are already dying with protection orders in hand, now women and children are dying at the hands of perpetrators who have been released by the State after being convicted of convicted sexual offences. The must end its complacency in the murder of women and that of children, declare a moratorium today!”

We have also attached the individual messages left by each signatory on this petition and call upon your office to put South Africa’s public safety first by declaring a moratorium on paroles for sex offenders. We trust and hope that you will treat this request with the utmost urgency it deserves.