Senior South African police officer charged with rape and grooming

One of South Africa's most senior police officers, Shadrack Sibiya, has been charged with raping an 18-year-old woman and grooming a 16-year-old girl, in a case that has shocked the country.

Sibiya's arrest comes at a particularly fraught moment for South African law enforcement, which is already facing widespread accusations of corruption and an inability to protect women and girls from violence.

The charges against such a high-ranking officer have intensified public concern about the state of the police service, as South Africa continues to grapple with deeply troubling rates of femicide and alleged criminality within its own security forces.