Violence Against Women & Access to Justice: hearings

Meeting report

JOINT COMMITTEE ON THE IMPROVEMENT OF THE QUALITY OF LIFE AND THE STATUS OF WOMEN
16 November 1999
VIOLENCE AGAINST WOMEN & ACCESS TO JUSTICE: HEARINGS

Chair: Pregs Govender (ANC)

Programme
Minister of Welfare & Population Development
Minister of Education
Office on the Status of Women in the Ministry of the Office of the President
Director of Office of Public Prosecutor
Minister of Justice

Minister of Welfare & Population Development
The Minister, Dr Zola Syweyiya, was accompanied by three members of his department: Ashley Theron, (Chief Director: Developmental Social Welfare), Vivienne Taylor (Adviser to the Minister) and Suzette Kotze (National Co-ordinator of the Victim Empowerment Programme).

Minister Skweyiya stressed in his overview that protection against violence is a human right and violence against women and girls cannot be excused or wished away. It is part of the continuum of oppression of the most disempowered in our society. He stressed that what we need now is try to shift towards a greater emphasis on a victim-centred, restorative justice approach.

A Victim Empowerment Programme (VEP) with special focus on women and children is a priority in the Government's National Crime Prevention Strategy and is operated from the Department of Welfare. It aims to provide support to survivors of crime and violence. R6 million was allocated to initiate such programmes. Forty two Victim Empowerment Projects have been established at provincial levels which operate on the basis of "24 hour one-stop service centres". Women and children receive a range of services there.

The Welfare Department is actively working for the implementation of the Domestic Violence Act.

Questions and comments
Pregs Govender (ANC) asked if the Welfare Budget is sufficient to build the necessary women shelters. Further what about developing the shelters together with the National Committee on Shelters of Women?

The Minister responded that the Budget is not sufficient and it has been cut again which must affect the work of the Department. Donor funds are needed to help as there is a gap. Since the advent of the new government in June, the Department is trying to work in a more co-ordinated way with other departments, particularly with Justice, the Police and Correctional Services. The 32 shelters altogether, not full-blown shelters for women as such, but the model is 24-hour-stop service.

Connie September (ANC) asked what will be the problems and stumbling blocks in the implementation of the Domestic Violence Act.

The Minister replied that the Domestic Violence Project is working with Justice and social workers. After the Act is implemented, they will run workshops to evaluate its implementation. Having grown up in a township he could see a crisis. For example at a time like Christmas when there is more alcohol and violence around, there could be a greater demand by women and there will be a shortfall in the help that could be provided. In any case, do women know their rights, not sure enough work been done to make them aware of these.

Suzanne Vos (IFP) said there was no safety net for women and children and what will black rural women do after the one-stop stay. The problem is men and a radical new focus is needed by using resources on men, for example, a 24-hour stay for men in prison. Is not our current approach only applying a 'Band-aid' to the problem?
The Minister acknowledged that re-evaluation is needed and innovative proposals are being looked for. He will launch his statement at the end of the month and we will see how these issues can be looked at to build a coalition with other organisations. The Government alone will never be able to deliver to the very poor people in the rural areas who are expecting a lot. We must work with the solidarity movement, with the NGOs, religious organisations and business. If we could see the sort of poverty there is out there, we would be truly shocked.

In reply to a question on the relationship of the Department with NGOs, the Minister said they had been listening to NGOs and Churches to see how they could work together and a report is currently being compiled on this.

Minister of Education
Minister Kader Asmal, who was accompanied by Director General Thami Mseleku, said there was an absence of any code of behaviour in schools which often led to the breakdown of authority. Apartheid had created a culture of violence and failed to instil any sort of respect for human beings. Violence and sexual abuse and harassment were rampant in our schools. These must be remorselessly stamped out.

Similarly at schools there is an extent of abuse of violence. The question is what are the obstacles to existing norms. Or is there an absence of will and necessity to prioritise it and solve it once and for all?

He gave the example of the five Mpumalanga teachers who ordered pupils to perform simulated sex acts three years ago and were still receiving their salaries three months after being convicted. He had no constitutional powers to intervene as the jurisdiction to run the schools is left with the provinces. As a national minister his concern is the budget. He wrote to the director of prosecution asking for an appeal to the case. The Minister could only use persuasion and the 'shame factor' to get teachers dismissed. He promised to raise this particular matter with the President when he submitted his quarterly report to him.

He said that they will need to strengthen the role of school principals, prevent victimisation against women and protect whistle blowers in education. To prevent acts of intimidation and corruption from recurring, there needs to be a will to grapple with the prevailing cultural behaviour that allows this. Discrimination and violence need to be publicly repudiated and there needs to be a recognition of the principle of equality and the worthiness of each other. What needs to be understood is that the pathology in schools is a reflection of societal pathology. To make this happen some legislation is necessary. There is a need for education about diversity in order to change the exclusive philosophical moral and cultural values of the past society, and develop common values, to strengthen the roles of principals and establish a code of conduct for teachers. We have to recognise that girls are more vulnerable and not express it in a paternalistic way.

Questions and comments
Pregs Govender (ANC) asked about the budget implications of implementation of a system which seeks to redress the violence in our schools.

The Director General replied that there is a complexity when we talk about a budget as the National Education Dept does not have powers of intervention at the provincial level. They create the framework which then has to be carried out by the Provinces. Minister Asmal said that on the question of implementation we have a Council of Presidents who meet with the Minister and these issues are put on the table. The Teachers' Union has been asked to add violence in schools to their agenda. All social institutions must have violence as an item on their agenda. There is also a need to set guidelines on non-negotiable suspension and dismissal offences.

The chairperson asked how far has the curriculum been integrated to deal with the issues raised here?

Firstly there have been attempts to include sex and gender education, however earlier on there was some resistance from some sections of the communities that it would not be correct to expose small children to issues of sexuality. To some extent that view has changed now. This would be more appropriately done under the auspices of Curriculum 2005.

In reply to questions of sexism in the classroom and the fact that the majority of promotion opportunities go to men in schools and in the Department although the majority of employees are women, the Director General said it is difficult for the Department to intervene nationally on these issues but they are working on ways to deal with the gaps in policy implementation.

Office on the Status of Women in the Ministry of the Office of the President
Dr. Essop Pahad, Minister in the Office of the President, said that much time had been spent on the issue of violence against women. The present Deputy Minister of Justice will focus on this issue as had her predecessor.

Dr. Ellen Kornegay, Director of the Office on the Status of Women, said that her Department had done an audit and each Government department has a plan of action to carry out over the next five years. All the Ministries had to make a commitment to combating violence against women. The focus is on mainstreaming women and each cluster of ministries has an issue to focus on. For example the police service working with the Government Communication and Information Service, want to launch a men's forum for one year aimed at promoting a gender-sensitive approach.

Questions and comments
In reply to a question on what was happening at provincial level, Dr. Kornegay said there was quite a lot of duplication and they need to meet with all the provinces.

The presenters were asked why they did not liaise more via constituency offices in order to find out about the rural areas. Minister Pahad acknowledged that they must get away from thinking how many women MPs and Cabinet Ministers there are but that they should focus instead on the empowerment of poor women. There are the provincial powers that should tackle this as well. Dr Kornegay agreed that they need new ways of reaching rural women.

A further question asked whether there is a standardised way of dealing with these matters in the provinces.
Dr Kornegay said that these vary as do expectations too. Inconsistency has been found and this will be revealed in the provincial audit taking place.

Ms Govender asked if the Cabinet committees are addressing the issues emerging from the Beijing Platform of Action by cutting down military commitments and are the attendant savings being earmarked for women? Are we going to get the fantastic laws implemented at a community level?

Minister Pahad said that the NCOP should be doing monitoring to establish what is happening at the provincial level, local councils should also be doing this as should the political parties. Dr Kornegay said that there will be the launch of a campaign on 25 November and on 10 December Ministers will report back to Pretoria from their Ministries on the Plan of Action.

Ms Govender noted that there is a lack of statistics on violence. There is a perception that the violence figures have increased but we do not really know. We need new and reliable figures.

Minister Pahad said that statistics in every area are not reliable but as the President says in relation to rape, one rape is one too many. However it is true that nowadays far more rape cases are reported than in the past. Statistics-gathering techniques are improving. Rape is an issue which is closely followed by the President. One of the problems is that so much violence against women and children takes place within the family which is often hidden.

Director of Office of Public Prosecutor
Bulelani Ngcuka, Director of Office of Public Prosecutor, was accompanied by Thoko Majokweni, Head of Sexual Offences and Community Affairs and Willie Hofmeyr, Head of the Asset Forfeiture Unit.

Mr. Ngcuka mentioned the many problems people faced when going to Court: they were inaccessible, unfriendly and there were very long delays. Further far too many people were found not guilty. The figures are more pronounced when the offences are against women. This needs turning around.

Information collected on crime revealed that, for example, in the Northern Province police rate rape as the most prevalent problem. However there are no concrete plans to curb it. Their Department decided to set up a special unit to deal with women's problems run by Adv. Thoko Majokweni.

Public prosecutors have been told this is a priority area: the number of convictions needs to be increased, there must be no withdrawal of prosecutions unless this instruction comes from a higher authority. Instructions have been given to ensure that cases are not caught up in technicalities and investigations must be completed quickly. Otherwise victims would tend to forget parts of evidence and defendants are advantaged by the lapsed period of time.

Adv. Majokweni said the bulk of sexual offenders appear before the Regional Courts so prosecutors need to be trained in order that they can lead evidence. Young prosecutors are often scared of technical evidence and they need training on the validity of scientific evidence. There is also a need for a coalition of NGOs with the police and prosecutors to provide counselors and intermediaries for witnesses. The aim of her unit is to establish sexual offences’ courts.

Another issue is to convince the Department of Health that medical students must be properly trained on how to examine sexually assaulted victims. Forensic training needs to be extended to nurses and where possible they should be able to give expert evidence, especially in rural areas, where there is a shortage of medical facilities.

Her unit had met the Child Protection Units in all provinces to get them to cooperate with prosecutors. The latter must be in touch with investigators immediately otherwise vital evidence is lost. They are upgrading training with regard to investigation techniques, presentation, DNA evidence and leading a traumatised individual on the witness stand.

Police need to be trained on the techniques of collecting DNA evidence and its preservation. They need training on how to deal with traumatised victims and children when asking questions particularly as most rapes are not committed by strangers but by those close to the victims such as relatives.

Mr Hofmeyr gave a brief account of the work of his Unit in the area of violence against women and children. He said asset forfeiture can be used to close down the infrastructure of organised crime where prostitution and particularly child prostitution figures. Such cases are currently being followed up in Gauteng.

Questions and comments
Ms Govender asked how the fact that most rapes are not committed by strangers, informs the work of the Office of the Public Prosecutor? Is there sufficient budget for this work? We know it is a government priority but is the government giving it the required resources? How do we look at the role of rural women and chiefs in this regard?

Mr Nguka said that they realise that the majority of culprits in rape cases are family members and there is enormous difficulty in taking evidence. It then becomes his word against hers. So skill is needed in managing evidence and leading as well as the use of forensic evidence. Such rapes are associated with a high number of withdrawals of cases. Normally the perpetrators are 'forgiven' often for economic reasons. The position now is that there will be no more acceptance of withdrawals of cases unless such a withdrawal is authorised by a provincial attorney general.

He said that they do not know what the prosecution success rate is in sexual offences cases. It is very difficult to get figures and there are places like Mdantsane in the Eastern Cape where no rape cases have been dealt with for over three years.
There is not a shortage of money - the problem is management of resources. For example the Courts do not work long enough hours. Resources clearly have to be more effectively utilised. A Court Management Unit (CMU) would be set up to monitor prosecutions and court proceedings.

Another area for concern is that of headmen and chiefs who are very negative about the legal system. In most cases they would not work with the police and courts. Some restrictions need to be placed on their areas of jurisdiction in terms of such cases.

A committee member commented that until now she had been very resentful about the Courts but applauded the Public Prosecutor for his analysis of them. She said rural women in particular need empowering where the attitude to rape is more secret and viewed as an humiliating experience for a woman and covered up and not exposed.

A question was raised about lenient sentences. Mr Ngcuka responded that as a past defence lawyer he had not thought that he would be arguing one day for stiffer sentences but he now did. There were too many inconsistencies where some courts sentenced correctly but the bad ones got the publicity.

The committee applauded the presentation given by the Office of Public Prosecutor.

Minister of Justice
Minister Penuell Maduna, mentioned recent legislation that addresses the need for gender equality as well as the problem of women accessing justice. These are the Commission for Gender Equality Act, amendments to the Criminal Procedure Act, Domestic Violence Act, Maintenance Act, Prevention of Organised Crime Act.
The Law Commission has been involved in an extensive research project on the law relating to sexual offences.

It was pointed out that it still takes too long to implement legislation after Parliament has passed it. Acts are passed that need complicated regulations. Often there are no precedents. These have to be properly co-ordinated.

So far 1500 police have been trained to interpret the Domestic Violence Act and they in turn train numbers of other police. A problem is the fact that many policemen are illiterate. When the Act is ready the Finance Department will be approached to get a costing programme.

 

Appendix 1:

 

Minister of Welfare & Population Development:
Presentation By The Minister Of Welfare, Population And Development, Minister Z. T Skweyiya:

On The Department Of Welfare's Role In The Implementation And Access To Justice In Relation To Gendered Violence

1. INTRODUCTION

Chairperson, members of the Committee and invited guests, I am pleased to have an opportunity to share with you my department's concerns about the serious scourge of violence against women and children in our country. I will also provide you with an overview on what my department is doing to address the problems experienced by mainly women and girls, in our country.

At the outset, I wish to stress that my approach is that protection against violence is a human right. Domestic violence, violence against women and girls cannot be excused, justified, legitimised or wished away. Violence and abuse against women and girls should be seen as part of the continuum of oppression of the most dis-empowered in our society. Therefore our strategies and programmes need to deal with the structural and systemic causes of violence as well as the symptoms. In this regard we need to have both strategic, long term and practical immediate responses to violence against women and girls.

2. THE CONTEXT AND BACKGROUND

Violence against women poses a threat to gender equality and the development of women in South Africa. The nature and extent of the violence experienced is such that it violates women's human rights. In a study undertaken by the Medical Research Council to establish the prevalence of domestic violence in Eastern Cape, Northern Province and Mpumalanga, it was found that over 20% of the women interviewed reported that they were physically abused by a current or former partner. Besides rape, emotional and financial abuse, were also found to be common features of relationships women had with their partners.

Factors which contribute to women and girls vulnerability to abuse include poverty, economic dependency, subordinate status, illiteracy and limited or no access to alternatives such as shelters, and other support systems.

Since 1994, the Government of South Africa has been developing a co-ordinated strategy to deal with all forms of violence against women. Key to this is the National Crime Prevention Strategy (NCPS) that was approved by Cabinet. The National Crime Prevention Strategy (NCPS) advocates a new way of looking at crime. The Welfare department's approach is consistent with this shift. The shift is from crime control to crime prevention; from an emphasis on crime as a security issue towards crime as a social issue; and from an emphasis on a state centered system to a greater emphasis on a victim centered, restorative justice approach.

3. VICTIM EMPOWERMENT: A PRACTICAL RESPONSE

The Victim Empowerment Programme (VEP), with a special focus on women and children, is a priority within the government's National Crime Prevention Strategy. This programme is coordinated and implemented by the Department of Welfare. It aims to provide support to survivors of crime and violence. Victims of domestic violence, in the main women, are prioritised for support and appropriate services through this Programme. As an integrated and inter-sectorally managed programme it ensures that:

· Services to victims or survivors of violent crime, are available and accessible,

· services are rendered in an empowering, respectful and supportive manner, with due sensitivity to the impact of the crime and the gendered nature of violence in our society

· responsive, efficient and capable people render a thorough and professional service to victims,

· the victim is provided with all the necessary information on services available, the progress of related criminal investigation and the relevant information on procedures and processes, and

· effective co-ordination and integration of services.

Services to women who are victims of violence might include:

· Medical care, support, advice, counselling, information on rights, services, court procedures, protection, shelter, victim/offender mediation, other basic services and compensation.

Inter-sectoral structures to implement the operational plans of the VEP have been established in the provinces. These structures have agreed business plans and are fully operational despite some capacity problems.

The departments work in the VEP is guided by the Constitution of

South Africa, the Convention on the Elimination of all forms of

Discrimination Against Women (CEDAW), the Beijing Platform

of Action and the SADC Declaration on the prevention of

Violence Against Women and Children.

These instruments have provided us in Welfare with guidelines on how to integrate gender and women’s rights into legislation, policies and programmes with special reference to violence against women and girls. Our emphasis in the department's programmes is on services to women, girls and children who are victims of violence and abuse, rehabilitation services to perpetrators, public education and awareness, staff training and research.

IMPLEMENTATION OF THE DOMESTlC VIOLENCE ACT

The Department of Welfare gives practical effect to the implementation of the Domestic Violence Act by:

Firstly, developing a service directory to be utilised by police officers and other professionals for referral purposes

Secondly, providing counselling and support services to victims

Thirdly, striving to ensure the availability of shelters for women and children who experience violence

Fourthly, promoting and training social workers and volunteers to respond to the needs of affected people.

Fifthly, the department assists in developing protocols for service delivery and undertakes public education and awareness campaigns.

Sixthly, the department is actively seeking resources to complement the limited financial allocations it is able to draw on to give full and adequate effect to the implementation of the provisions as contained in the Domestic, Violence Act.

 

4. PROGRESS

R6 000 000 was allocated to initiate VEP projects. These funds

are provided to provinces and projects that are especially

responsive to the needs of women and girls as victims of violence.

In some provinces such as the Western Cape, Gauteng and Mpumalanga, VEP services are integrated with the Child Protection Protocols, which are also inter-sectoraI in nature.

The Department works with and supports a number of non-governmental organisations (NGOs) that render services to women and children who are victims of violence and crime. Since embarking on the VEP in 1997, these partnerships have been extended to include research organisations, business and other key NGOs, such as NICRO, National Network on Violence Against Women, National Peace Accord Trust, UNISA, Technicon SA, as well as related government departments (SAPS, Justice, Correctional Services, Education, Health).

A task team to develop protocols and guidelines for the referral of victims and perpetrators of domestic violence to relevant agencies has been set up and the Department of Welfare is represented and working on this team.

The publication of a service directory for domestic violence, in collaboration with the National Network on Violence against Women, is in the process. This will be a resource directory which will be made available to all police stations in the country and which will contain the details of the nearest shelter to a particular police station. The directory is to be launched to coincide with the implementation of the Domestic Violence Act of 1998 on 15 December 1999.

Provincial welfare officials participate in training sessions of the South African Police Services and Department of Justice officials to increase the awareness of the roles of different stakeholders in the process as well as to understand the referral process.

The Department has advanced the process of public education and training through the tender process- to appoint a trainer to train social workers as well as lay counsellors in the implementation of the Act. It is expected that the training will commence in January/February 2000.

A model of one-stop service centres for domestic violence, which will include the provision of shelter, for victims of domestic violence is being planned. The Department intends to pilot such projects in under-resourced provinces. As far as is possible the department will ensure that such shelters are safe places within the community that provide emergency, temporary shelter and help.

The National Department of Welfare has informed provincial departments of welfare about the implementation of the Domestic Violence Act so that the necessary steps are taken to strengthen their services to accommodate the expected increased demand especially in areas that have high levels of crime.

Central to the Department's initiatives is the establishment of 42 Victim Empowerment Projects at provincial levels. These projects operate on the basis of "24-hour one-stop service centres". Women and children receive a range of services rendered by trained professional and/or volunteer staff. These projects are in the following provinces:

Free State: 5

Mpumalanga: 2,

Eastern Cape: 13,

KwaZulu-Natal: 8,

Northern Cape: 1,

Western Cape: 1

North West:: 10,

Northern Province: 1,

Gauteng: 1

R2 250 000 (R250 000 per province) has been made available for these projects.

The Department has also played a major role in educational and awareness campaigns on the rights of women as far as violence is concerned. For example, all provincial and the national offices participated in the celebration of the National Women's Day on 9 August 1999 which focussed on HIV/AIDS and violence against women.

The Department of Welfare participated in and provided resources for the ^"Women in Partnership against AlDS' 'On the Right Track' Campaign from March to May 1999. The campaign highlighted the vulnerability of women towards HIV/AIDS. Violence against women is one of the elements that increases the vulnerability of women to contracting HIV and AIDS. The department has also been involved in organising and participating in the activities of the" Sixteen Days of Activism of No violence Against Women" since 1997. This year's activities around family life will be co-ordinated by the Department of Welfare. Educational materials such as pamphlets and posters are always made available at such campaigns.

To ensure that the rights of women are given priority focussed attention a Directorate which deals mainly with development and implementation of policy and programmes for the economic and social development of women was established within the Department of Welfare in April 1999.

This directorate co-ordinates VEP, the Flagship programme for unemployed women and works closely with the Offices on the Status of Women and the Commission on Gender Equality.

5. CONCLUDING REMARKS

Violence against women, girls and children are a national priority for the Department of Welfare. During my period as Welfare Minister, I will do everything possible to ensure both a strategic and practical response to the problems of violence. Clearly the government cannot address the deep seated and serious nature of the problems affecting women with out the assistance of the business, non- governmental organisations and every citizen in South Africa.

High levels of poverty and the absence of infrastructure (streetlights and transport) in many communities increases the vulnerability of women to violence.

Inappropriate societal and cultural attitudes including those of professionals in the justice system, police services and even welfare compromises the rights of women to justice and services. As long as women, children, girls and the poorest continue to experience violence in all its brutal forms, each one of is dehumanised.