Following the incident, police officers in that area are alleged to have failed and ignored to properly handle the rape of the 18-year-old by not collecting necessary evidence that was left by the perpetrators. This again despite the help from the family of the victim who managed to track down one of the three suspects at the request of one of the officers who attended to matter.

Police spokesperson, Sabata Mokgwabone, says they are aware of allegations that police in that area failed to give proper attention to this rape case.

One of the family members in audio says after one of the suspects was identified, these police officers failed to make an arrest. Three suspects, who were allegedly wearing balaclavas, allegedly gained entry through a window. "While dragging her to a makeshift landfill, she was naked and she ended up giving in because they threatened to kill her, so she pretended she was dead," the audio narrates. She was then raped and assaulted. She managed to drag herself back to the house where she wore a gown and went to one of her cousins' house where the family members were called and the police were ultimately called also. The family, however, feels that the police did not do much to handle the matter.

Police have previously come under fire from all quarters of society for how they have handled rape cases against women and children. Women and political parties which include the Economic Freedom Fighters (EFF) once held massive marches to rally behind women who have been raped and killed by men. They also called on the police management to train police on how to handle cases of rape. Incidents such as that from Kanana once again put the handling of rape cases by officers under scrutiny.

In August, Police Minister Bheki Cele released crime statistics and stated that sexual crimes across the country have increased. This comes at a time when the scourge of killing women and children in the country also regained traction during the lockdown. Just before Cele announced national crime statistics he previously stated that police stations across the country received thousands of calls related to GBV. This also forced President Cyril Ramaphosa's government to reprioritise millions of rands towards the fight against violence against women and children. The government's efforts included working with civil society movements, many of which are non-profit organisations (NPO) and the training of police officers.

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