Minister confirms big new step in making the National Register for Sex Offenders public

A draft Bill to facilitate the National Register for Sex Offenders being made accessible to ordinary citizens has been drafted and circulated for comment, the Minister of Justice, Mmamoloko Kubayi, confirmed in an answer to a question in Parliament.

Kubayi was answering a question from Build One South Africa (Bosa) deputy leader Nobuntu Hlazo-Webster. The Minister said in her written answer that after thorough consultations, they had drafted amendments to the Criminal Law (Sexual Offences and Related Matters) Act and confirmed that these had been circulated for comment.

The changes to the Act will include changes to the sections dealing with the confidentiality and disclosure of information in the National Register for Sex Offenders (NRSO), she said.

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In a statement to Parliament in February 2025, Kubayi said it had become clear that various interest groups were advocating for the release of the NRSO to protect vulnerable people, combat reoffending, promote accessibility and create a victim-centric justice system – an approach she fully supported.

“One of the key concerns raised was the accessibility of the National Register for Sex Offenders. Several NGOs have reported that gaining information from the NRSO is a slow and frustrating process. Ordinary South Africans and parents have no way to easily check whether the people they trust with their children have a history of sexual crimes,” Kubayi said at the time.

Constitutionality still in question

In her most recent answer to Parliament, Kubayi said that while the amendment Bill had been circulated, the State Law Adviser had yet give the green light confirming it was constitutional.

“A legal opinion by the Office of the Chief State Law Adviser on the constitutionality of making the NRSO accessible to the public has not yet been obtained,” she said. “The legal opinion will be obtained once a final draft Bill has been finalised, as part of the legislative process for processing the Bill through Cabinet.”

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The NRSO is a record of the names of people found guilty of sexual offences against children and other vulnerable people. It has been set up to make sure that these offenders do not work with vulnerable people or children and is currently available to employers in the public or private sectors running schools, crèches and hospitals.

There are about 30,000 sexual offenders noted in the register. The register, which was established 19 years ago, has never before been publicly available.

History of the NRSO

Established in 2007, its proposed purpose was to curb sexual offences, specifically recording those convicted of raping children or the mentally ill, and those declared unfit to stand trial for such offences.

Listed offenders are barred from working with children or the mentally ill, fostering or adopting.

At present, only employers in relevant sectors may request checks.

The NRSO took two years to become operational in 2009.

Ten years later, in 2019, protesters began calling for its contents to be made public. In the same year, President Cyril Ramaphosa indicated his intention to ask Parliament to make the register public.

In 2020, Ramaphosa announced that amendments would be made to broaden the categories of offenders listed on the NRSO, but the register remained unavailable to the public.

Over the next five years, reported cases of learners being raped or sexually assaulted by teachers repeatedly highlighted failures in the Department of Education’s systems, since, despite being authorised to check the register, they failed to do so. Concerns were also raised that the data on sexual misconduct held by the department was fragmented and incomplete.

Advocacy efforts paying off

Bosa, which has been leading advocacy efforts to make the register public, said in a statement on Tuesday that the news from the Minister was encouraging.

“This marks an important step forward in a long-standing fight to better protect vulnerable people – especially women and children – from known and convicted sexual predators.

“For too long, the NRSO has existed behind closed doors, limiting its effectiveness and leaving communities, schools and employers in the dark about individuals who pose a known and proven risk,” the statement said.

It warned that the party was worried that the constitutionality of the amendments had not yet been finalised.

“This raises serious questions about the pace and urgency of the process,” the statement said. DM