Sergeant Molwantoa Rapakgadi - Forensices : Serial And Electronic Crime Investigations (SECI)

Protecting Children Through Specialised Investigations

By Jessie Taylor

At the forefront of putting a stop to online child sexual abuse material (CSAM) is a specialised unit within the South African Police Force. The Serial And Electronic Crime Investigations (SECI) Unit falls under the Family Violence, Child Protection And Sexual Offences (FCS) Unit and investigates serial rapists and offenders involved in CSAM.

The FCS Units fight against sexual offences against children, person directed crimes (where the family is involved), illegal removal of children under the age of 12, and crime facilitated through electronic media.

The units, found across the country, consist of dedicated members that go beyond the call of duty to ensure that survivors of these heinous crimes – rape, murder and child pornography – are treated with the utmost care to avoid secondary victimisation.

The Fight Against Online Abuse

Recent work by the SECI Unit has included a partnership with the US Department of Homeland Security to crack down on a list of 27 people considered to be the country's top online child sexual predators.

The SECI Unit was established in 2017 and was responsible for investigating, tracing, and apprehending serial rapists and electronic crimes relating to online child sexual exploitation. The unit is linked to an international tip-off line and deals with daily alerts of people who are searching, viewing, and sharing child pornography. The unit received 130 reports from the international tip-off line in one year.

Since the crackdown started in October, eight people have already been arrested: Four in the Western Cape, three in Gauteng and one in KwaZulu-Natal. The arrests are part of an international operation to trace the manufacturers, users and distributors of child CSAM. The spread of CSAM is rife in South Africa, with reports by the Films and Publications Board (FPB) saying more than 170 000 images are submitted to it for analysis in just one year. Of these, around 50 000 were found to be CSAM.

In just one recent court case, more than 600 images and videos, classified as child pornography were allegedly found on the cellphones and laptops of two men. According to The Disrupting Harm in South Africa report, which details evidence of online child abuse based on self-reported data, between 7% and 9% of South African children aged between 9 and 17 have experienced online sexual exploitation and abuse.

The report found that the perpetrators of online child sexual exploitation and abuse were largely strangers to the children, with around 45% of the perpetrators unknown to the child. Concerningly, around half of children who experienced online child sexual exploitation and abuse did not report it to an adult or the authorities, and only around 2% of all cases were reported to a hotline or the police.

The Long Arm Of The Law

Among those authorities investigating such cases and bringing the perpetrators to book is Sergeant Molwantoa Rapakgadi. Sergeant Rapakgadi, a seasoned detective attached to Gauteng’s SECI unit, has secured 57 life-term sentences and an additional 3,074 years in prison for 17 serial rapists.

Sergeant Rapakgadi was among those commended during the recent 16 Days of Activism for No Violence against Women and Children campaign as one of the men and women in blue who go beyond the call of duty to protect women and children.

The 16 Days of Activism Campaign is an international United Nations endorsed initiative that takes place annually from 25 November (International Day of No Violence against Women) to 10 December (International Human Rights Day). The period was designated by the United Nations General Assembly to raise public awareness on gender-based violence (GBV) in line with resolution 54/134 of 17 December 1999.

Sergeant Rapakgadi consistently strives for service excellence and in 2020 was awarded with a Certificate of Commendation by the National Commissioner of the SAPS for successfully linking six men, dubbed the ‘Six Men Syndicate,’ to a series of crimes they committed in Gauteng, North West and Limpopo between 2010 and 2018. They were collectively sentenced to 40 life terms and 1793 years imprisonment. Sergeant Rapakgadi said he takes pride in his work and hardly takes leave or books off sick.

"Being a detective is my calling and it gives me great pleasure to solve complex cases. Most of my suspects are unknown at first, but through various investigative techniques, I am able to identify, trace and arrest these serial rapists," said Sergeant Rapakgadi.

Source: CSIR | Green Growth