The Big Read: They trickle in, these reports, like dispatches from a war zone: Mrs White, raped by her estranged husband after the police refused to arrest him for violating a protection order; or Aluwani Puswe - who repeatedly went to the police begging for protection from her boyfriend who had threatened to kill her on numerous occasions.

Instead of arresting the man, the police mediated the matter. As she feared, Puswe was indeed murdered.

Then there's Annemarie Engelbrecht, who eventually killed her abusive husband. Not only had the police refused to come to her aid on a number of occasions, they had also advised her husband to obtain a protection order against her.

And now the murder-suicide in Naturena, south of Joburg. The frantic mother apparently drove to two different police stations attempting to get the police to act on her protection order. While the police mumbled their excuses, the woman's husband shot their two children before killing himself. Sometimes those in the front line of defence - those who should protect - become the enemy.

The police's reluctance to intervene in cases of domestic violence is long-standing and well-known. In an effort to counter this neglect, the 1998 Domestic Violence Act (DVA) imposed a range of legal obligations upon the police. Failure to carry out these duties must be reported to the Independent Complaints Directorate (ICD), which can recommend disciplinary action against the officer(s) concerned.

The SAPS, however, routinely thumb their noses at these recommendations. Tshwaranang, a women's legal advocacy centre, is currently reviewing the outcomes of some 1100 cases of misconduct reported to the ICD over an eight- year period.

In 83% of cases the ICD recommended that disciplinary action be taken against the officer(s) concerned. The police complied with this recommendation in only 5% of complaints.

In 2007, 47% of the 395 police stations audited by ICD were fully compliant with the Act's provisions. In 2008, when 434 police stations were audited, no more than 14% of stations fully met their obligations.

The Police Portfolio Committee (PPC, to whom the ICD is required to report these dismal facts every six months) noted that the ICD had been rendered a "toothless bulldog" by the SAPS.

The police are also required to inform parliament every six months of their activities in support of the DVA. These too demonstrate a distinct lack of ambition on the police's part. Training, for example, is one obvious means of ensuring that all officers understand the DVA, as well as their obligations in terms of the Act.

In 2007, during a briefing to the PPC, the SAPS provided statistics which indicated that only a fraction of their members had been trained around the DVA since its inception.

In 2008 the national police commissioner told the committee, yet again, that the SAPS were still challenged by the lack of specialised training around domestic violence.

In 2009, questions about the police's training on the DVA were raised again - this time by the Auditor-General. According to his report to Parliament, only 10.7% of police officers from one area had attended training on the DVA. Worse, only 1.2% of the same number attended training around the victim empowerment programme.

People have not idly sat by in the face of this depressing litany of indifference and neglect. White successfully sued the minister of police in 2006, while the Puswe matter goes on trial this month.

The Portfolio Committee on Women, Children and People with Disabilities held hearings around the implementation of the DVA in late 2009 and put forward a number of recommendations to the police around how they could improve their implementation of the Act. Draft legislation for the ICD also goes before parliament later this year, which will aim to strengthen their oversight powers.

But even these steps may not be sufficient to force the police's compliance with the DVA. Perhaps the time has come to hold individual station, provincial and national police managers responsible when those who fall under their command fail to comply with the DVA. Where violent, unnecessary deaths and being sued have failed, perhaps the prospect of losing their jobs will succeed in persuading the police to uphold the law.

Domestic violence is the daily bread of far too many women and children in this country. The police have no business enabling and facilitating such violence.

• Vetten is a gender activist and policy analyst at the Tshwaranang Legal Advocacy Centre