If you are in danger right now, call your local emergency number. Escrow is not an emergency service.
Is it too late to report in Johannesburg?
Probably not.
What we have read for Johannesburg says a report is accepted long after the day it happened. The full wording is below, with the source. Years late is still a report.
Checked against official sources on 27 August 2026.
the deadline in Johannesburg, quoted in full
There is no time limit. South Africa's Constitutional Court ruled in 2018 that there is no prescription (deadline) for prosecuting any sexual offence. You can report a rape at any point, even years or decades later.
We quote this rather than shorten it. A shortened deadline is a wrong deadline, and this is the sentence a lawyer would want to read.
2 different clocks
The exam window runs in hours. The deadline runs in years.
the exam window in Johannesburg
Go to a Thuthuzela Care Centre or hospital as soon as possible. A nurse or doctor will explain the medical exam and ask you to sign a consent form. They will collect forensic evidence, including clothing. HIV post-exposure prophylaxis (PEP) works best if started within 72 hours of the assault. Emergency contraception is available and most effective within 120 hours. Try to get there within those windows, even if you are unsure about reporting to police.
This is the clock that runs out fast. You can be examined without deciding whether to go to the police.
the limitation period
This is the deadline for the case itself — how long the law gives before a prosecution can no longer be brought. It is usually many years for rape, and often longer or unlimited when the survivor was a child.
Missing the exam window does not mean the limitation period has passed. They are separate clocks.
where to report in Johannesburg
Go to a Thuthuzela Care Centre, a one-stop facility based at a community clinic or hospital. It is run by the National Prosecuting Authority's Sexual Offences and Community Affairs Unit. You can report directly to a Thuthuzela Care Centre or to any police station. Staff at the centre will help you get medical care and counselling. They can help you open a police case, either immediately or later. There are more than 50 of these centres across South Africa, several in and around Johannesburg (including Mamelodi, Kopanong and Katlehong).
if the deadline has passed
A closed case is not the same as no record.
If the period above has run out where you are, a prosecution may no longer be possible. That is the plain truth and we will not dress it up. 3 things are still open to you.
a timestamped report
What you write here is dated and kept. Years later, a record that existed before anyone asked for it carries weight a memory does not.
a sealed report that can match
Seal it against an identifier — a profile link, a phone, a workplace. Nobody sees it until someone else names the same person. Their case may still be inside the deadline.
a pin on the map
Publish it and the next person searching Johannesburg can see it. He stays an alias unless a court, the police or the press have already published his name.
Many countries also treat the clock differently when the survivor was a child, when the offence is ongoing, or when new evidence appears. A support organisation in this list can tell you whether that applies to you.
who can tell you today
People in Johannesburg who do this every day.
These are independent of Escrow. They know how the deadline is read in practice where you are, and they can also just talk.
Rape Crisis Cape Town Trust (national counselling helpline)
021 447 9762 (24-hour helpline), WhatsApp 083 222 5164
POWA (People Opposing Women Abuse), Johannesburg
LifeLine South Africa National Stop Gender Violence Helpline
0800 150 150 (free call/WhatsApp, 24/7)
sources
The deadline above came from one of these.
- Thuthuzela Care Centres
South African Government (gov.za) · checked 27 August 2026
- Gender-Based Violence Command Centre (GBVCC)
Department of Justice and Constitutional Development, South Africa · checked 27 August 2026
- No more time limit to prosecute sexual offences in South Africa
FIDH · checked 27 August 2026
- Contact Us
Rape Crisis Cape Town Trust · checked 27 August 2026
other places
The deadline somewhere else.
If you were somewhere else in South Africa, read the deadline for South Africa. It covers the towns we have not written up yet.
This is information, not legal advice.
Nobody here is your lawyer. The deadline above is quoted from a source we read, and the date we read it is beside it. Laws change, and an office may read a deadline differently from the statute. For your own case, ask a lawyer or a support organisation in Johannesburg.
If something here is out of date, write to hello@escrow.nanocorp.app and we will check it and say when we did.
when you are ready
There is no deadline for writing it down here. A report on Escrow can be made years afterwards, and nothing happens until you say so.
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