Hearings on Legislation dealing with violence against women: discussion

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Meeting report

Joint Monitoring Committee

JOINT MONITORING COMMITTEE ON THE IMPROVEMENT OF THE QUALITY OF LIFE AND THE STATUS OF WOMEN
20 October 1999
HEARINGS ON LEGISLATION DEALING WITH VIOLENCE AGAINST WOMEN: DISCUSSION

Documents:
Task team report-back (attached to end of minutes)

SUMMARY

Ms Govender, the chair, began the meeting with a brief statement on the controversy surrounding the committee's intention to invite members of the judiciary to a public hearing which she stated had been caused by a misinterpretation by the media. Ms. T. Botha gave a report-back of the task team's proposed plan of action. This was followed by a discussion of the time frame of the hearings. No clear decisions were reached on the subject.

MINUTES
Hearings on the Implementation of Legislation that protects Women's Rights
Ms Govender (ANC) began by clarifying the purpose of the hearings. They were not planned to keep the judiciary in check, since Parliament does not have this right according to the Constitution, but rather to see where problems of implementation of the legislation arises and see what measures could be taken (legislation-wise) to better protect women's rights. She criticised the uproar as having taken attention away from the true crisis, that of the violence against women in South Africa. The hearings are meant to find out where implementation was failing: in policy, in sentencing, or where? After this clarification she made a plea to the media to lay the consequences of the incorrect report to rest, because it really was not the important issue at hand.

Ms T Botha (ANC) gave a report of the Hearings Task Team's meeting on 15 October. Their discussion had centred around the implementation of recently passed laws dealing with violence against women. They felt it was important to clarify some of the terms and phrases used in these pieces of legislation (e.g. "substantial and compelling circumstances," a phrase which has been used frequently in recent cases). They will also look at the progress made in the transformation process and what the judiciary has done to aid this process. Therefore they proposed having a joint meeting with the Justice Portfolio Committee and invite the Minister and Deputy Minister of Justice to briefing them on the implementation of these Acts, particularly the Criminal Justice Act, No 105 of 1997, which dealt with sentencing, and also to talk about the allocation of resources for the implementation of such Acts. They are considering calling in the National Director of Public Prosecutions to discuss the interpretation of legislation followed by an inter-ministerial briefing with people from Safety and Security, Welfare and Health. This would be followed by public hearings to which they would invite the Magistrates Commission, the Judicial Services Commission, NGOs, the Commission on Gender Equality, the Human Rights Commission as well as people with professional expertise (including judges and magistrates who wish to help with this issue).
They also proposed making a statement in Parliament.

The committee discussed the time frame for these proposals as well as the resources at the committee's disposal. They have a full budget (although still no researcher) and in terms of a time frame for the hearings, they are looking at starting in the second week in November, however this is dependent on many factors, particularly because this is a joint committee and NCOP members have NCOP plenary sessions to go to as well as provincial work. There is a limited time scale, but nothing is set yet, and invitations will be sent out when details are finalised. No clear decision was taken on when the committee should address Parliament.

Committee programme
The key ideas that the committee will look at are:
Customary Law
The 'Equality' Bill
Muslim personal law (and, more broadly, religious personal law)
Equal work for equal pay (following up on implementations)
National Gender Policy
Maternity benefits (restructuring of the UIF)
Legal aid/access to justice

Before concluding the meeting, Ms Govender read one of the many letters of support the committee had received in the past week
.
Appendix 1:
Joint Monitoring Committee on Improvement of Quality of Life and Status of Women - Report of Task Team Meeting: 15/10/99

TERMS OF REFERENCE OF TASK TEAM
To develop a plan and make recommendations to the committee on hearings with regards to the implementation of the laws dealing with violence against women.

MANDATE OF COMMITTEE
To monitor and oversee progress with regard to the improvement of quality of life and status of women in South Africa, with specific reference to the government's commitments to the Beijing Platform for Action (BPFA) and with regard to the implementation of the provisions of CEDAW

COMMITTEES PRIORITIES FOR 1999/2000
1. Consolidating areas committee identified in 1998
2. Monitoring implementation

FOCUS OF DISCUSSION
1. Implementation of legislation
(a) Interpretation of statutes
(b) Problems in implementation and how these are being dealt with
(c) Transformation with judiciary, magistracy, courts - problems and progress
2. Media reports
Noted chairperson and speaker's media statements - no further consideration of media reporting which appeared to be missing the real issue of concern

PROPOSALS OF TASK TEAM
1. Consultation with Portfolio Committee on Justice and Constitutional Development
2. Briefing by Minister and Deputy of Justice on
(a) Implementation and monitoring of legislation, particularly the Criminal Law Amendment No. 105 of 1997
(b) Application of regulations
(c) Availability of resources

3. Briefing by National Director of Public Prosecutions on
(a) interpretation of legislation with particular reference to "substantial and compelling circumstances"
(b) problems encountered in implementation
(c) how they are dealing with problems

4. Inter-Ministerial Briefing

5. Public hearings (1) - inviting (a) Judicial Services Commission and (b) Magistrates Commission to brief committee on (i) Transformation - progress and problems (ii) Training of judiciary/magistracy (iii) Intervention mechanisms (judiciary) (iv) Complaints mechanism (magistrates)

6. Public hearings (2) - inviting institutions, NGOs, and members of the public (a) Commission on Gender Equality (b) SA Human Rights Commission (c) Centre for Violence (d) Community Law Centre - Gender Project (e) People with professional expertise including judges and magistrates who wish to contribute

7. Statement in Parliament

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