Bosa says that public sex offenders are important for parents to protect children

Johannesburg – Build a South Africa (Bosa) said a public list of sexual criminals is important for parents to protect their children against predators.

On Friday, the Ministry of Justice missed the deadline to publish the list of sex criminals, invoking confidentiality legislation issues.

The list would have made public every person in the country who was convicted for a sexual aggression crime.

In 2024, the National Association of Schools Governing (NASGB) launched a report that shows that about 16,000 teachers in the country had criminal records.

Crimes included rape, sexual aggression and aggression, among others.

The report has exposed weaknesses in the verification of teachers, which the deputy leader of Bosa, No Biboru Hlazo-Webster, said that a public register will be resolved.

“Because, as a woman, as a parent, I am able to check and see if this person who comes home, who comes to my job, if this doctor will go, I go, not on the list of sex criminals.”

A new deadline for publishing the list is still announced by the Justice Department.

Public interest, safety should slam the laws on privacy

Bosa said that public interest and safety should slam the laws on confidentiality when it comes to the release of the list of sex criminals.

Hlazo-Webster said that the laws of the country’s confidentiality are something that the justice department should have thought before announcing that they will make the public.

“The convictions in this country and the procedures that take place in court are actually public. The reason why we ask the register to be made public is a direct way to find out – not the information that is not public.

“Secondly, the Popi law (protection of personal information) says that if the information is proven to be in the public interest, then it can be made public and if the law imposes the information to be made public.”