Gender Equality and Violence Against Women: hearings
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Meeting report
IMPROVEMENT OF QUALITY OF LIFE AND STATUS OF
WOMEN JOINT MONITORING COMMITTEE
24 August 2006
GENDER EQUALITY AND VIOLENCE AGAINST WOMEN: HEARINGS
Chairperson: Ms M Morutoa (ANC)
Documents handed out:
Promotion of
Equality and Prevention of Unfair Discrimination Act
The Impact of the
Domestic Act, Act 118 of 1998 on the Lives of Women in South Africa
Presentation from the
South African Police Services
HR Related matters of the Department of Justice (see Appendix)
Department of Justice
& Constitutional Affairs presentation
Department of
Justice and Constitutional Affairs: Gender Breakdown
Tshwarang Legal
Advocacy Centre submission
SUMMARY
The Committee was briefed by Tshwaraganang Legal Advocacy Centre on the
studies and research they had conducted on women with regard to their
livelihoods, marriages, maintenance income from partners and divorces. Members
of the South African Police Department briefed the Committee on the kinds of
cases and issues that had been reported, the cases that were solved and one
that were not solved. The Committee was further briefed by the Department of
Justice and the Women’s Legal Centre.
The Committee was concerned about the progress made in the last decade in terms
of addressing the various issues raised in the submissions; what the legal
position of Islamic women was; whether the children of female victims were
being cared for; and what support was being provided to women in the rural
areas.
MINUTES
Submission by Gender Equality and Violence against Women
Ms Lisa Vetten (Tshwaraganang Legal Advocacy Centre) briefed the Committee
on issues affecting women in terms of marriages, violence, maintenance payments
from partners and problem with divorce settlements. Problems included the lack
of magistrates in some districts, lack of funds to process claims and loopholes
in the Marriages and Domestic Violence Acts. (See document for full
submission).
Discussion
An ANC member questioned where the research done by the Advocacy Centre
was conducted, whether it was in rural or urban areas.
Ms D Morobi (ANC) expressed her concern that the problems presented by Ms
Vetten had been the same one for a while and it seemed as though there had been
no progress on the issues. She enquired whether the Advocacy Centre has come up
with solutions to some of the problems and where the volunteers at the centre
were based.
The following questions were posed by Committee Members:
- How did the Centre inform women of their services?
- How did a Peace Order works?
- Were any studies done on the children of women that the Centre was helping;
were they assisted in any way or did the law only takes into consideration the
women and not their children?
- How many cases of rape were reported and resolved at that stage with SAPS and
how many of those victims used the services of the Advocacy Centre?
Ms Vetten replied that the research was broad in a sense that they took samples
from across the different ethnic groups in the country and from both urban and
rural areas.
One in two to one in nine rape cases were reported to the police. She did not
have the exact statistics of the cases that were resolved.
The volunteers were based at different centers and some of them at the courts
offices to help with the claims of the women.
Flyers and word of mouth was used to inform women of the Centre’s services
because of the expensive costs of other advertising methods.
A peace order was an order given to anyone that was disturbing the peace; this
could be to neighbours making a noise or to a partner who emotionally abused
their spouse. The order was given as a warning to the person found committing a
wrong so they could correct it, failing which they were fined. Ms Vetten
pointed out that a peace order was not a proper tool to solve domestic violence
issues because of its leniency.
Submission by Womens Legal Centre
Ms Sibongile Ndashe (Womens Legal Centre) presented to the Committee on the
legal problems experienced by women in terms of marriages, maintenance payment
issues and loopholes in the Marriages and Domestic Violence Acts that created
problems. (See document for full submission)
Discussion
Ms B Ntuli (ANC) asked if anything was being done about the loopholes
in the Act that had been found about Islamic marriages. From the presentation
it was clear that most Muslim women were married at the ‘church’ and did not
register their marriages with the Department of Home Affairs. If the husband
decides to leave the women they could just walk out with everything because
they were never legally married.
An ANC member enquired as to the protection of children in terms of the law if
it turned out that their parents were never legally married; and the outcome of
the November 2000 deadline to register marriages.
Ms Morobi asked what had happened to the use of affidavits being used as proof
and protection that they were married to their partners.
Ms Ndashe answered that the deadline of November 2000 had been extended to the
end of 2001, and thereafter it was left to the discretion of the Minister of
Home Affairs to extend the deadline again should the need arise. At that time,
the Dept Home Affairs was still registering marriages.
The affidavits were not meant to act as a registration for a marriage. They did
not serve the purpose of protecting the women and her rights to the estate if
she was to separate from her partner.
In terms of Islamic marriages, it was not the Constitution that required
changing, but a priority ruling on which law should take precedence should
there be a conflict of two laws. In this case the legislation and not the
Constitution was the problem.
The childrens’ interest was the top priority of the law because it protected
them in terms of the care and money that they received during the separation of
their parents.
Submission by the South African Police Department
The South African Police Department presented to the Committee on the
programmes set up to address violence against women, and a report-back on
projects for women, focusing on training for domestic violence, and finally on
progress in terms of increasing the number of women employed by the SAPS. (See
document for full submission).
Discussion
The Committee asked the following questions:
- What area within SAPS were women being developed?
- Where the women and child shelters within the country were and what was SAPS
doing to increase their number?
- What happened to victims in cases where there was not a police station or
forensic nurses and doctors to record evidence?
- What happened to cases that were reported to traditional leaders in the rural
areas and not to the police?
Ms Morobi asked if there any records kept of males violated in terms of the
Domestic Violence act; did SAPS have any ‘comfort’ police attendants to help
victims who had experienced trauma; what was SSSBC?
Ms B Ngcobo (ANC) asked what happened to street kids that were sexually
harassed and if there was any policy that addressed them in particular.
SAPS delegates responded that there was work in progress in terms of building
more shelters and other specialised units for women and children.
Women were being developed within SAPS in different areas including as pilots,
bomb disposal expers, mentoring, management and other training skills.
SSSBC stood for the Safety and Security Sector Bargaining Council.
SAPS admitted that there was a large need for shelters, and in cases were there
was no shelter close by, there were facilities for victims to stay over at
police stations until other plans were made for them on the following day.
SAPS did not have statistics on the number of forensic nurses and doctors they
had in the country. The Department of Health held that kind of information.
However, there were crime kits available, and these needed to be ordered at the
stations and not the hospitals.
Some traditional leaders had been trained on how to deal with cases that were
reported to them, but they had to pass the details of the case on to the
nearest police station.
SAPS had trained volunteers to deal with trauma cases when they were reported;
they did not have any comfort police nor did they have professional trauma
counseling.
Submission by the Department of Justice
Ms Raesibe Tladi (Department of Justice) briefed the Committee on half of
the Department’s presentation due to time constraints.
The following questions were posed to by the Committee:
- Had there been any public awareness campaigns to make women aware of their
rights?
- Who was allowed into the College of Justice - could students that wished to
complete an LLB be admitted to the college?
Ms R Morutoa (ANC) asked Ms Tladi if she felt there had been any progress in
the 12 years of democracy?
Ms Tladi felt that there had been progress even if it had been slow.
Awareness campaigns had been conducted in both the rural and urban areas to
inform women of the Constitution and their rights.
The Justice College was not an academic institution where one could obtain a
degree. It was meant for people who were already in the legal field, working
for the Dept of Justice, to teach them management skills and inform them on the
constantly changing legislation so that they are continually updated.
The meeting was adjourned.
APPENDIX:
DEPARTMENT OF
JUSTICE
SUBMISSION 24 AUGUST 2006
HR RELATED MATTERS FOR THE JMC ON IMPROVED QUALITY OF LIFE AND STATUS OF WOMEN
EMPLOYMENT EQUITY
We are guided by
the employment Equity Act, we have an Employment Equity plan which is cascaded
down to the branches in terms of their areas of under-representation.
Promotion in the Department
We do not have a policy on promotion as promotion does not exist in the public
service. Promotion only occurs technically after a person has applied for a
higher post and is successful. The DPSA tries to shy away from use of the term
promotion in that it causes unintended legal consequences. In this instance we are guided by our
employment equity report to ensure that designated groups are represented at
higher levels in the organization.
Skills transfer
Skills transfer in the dept is done through mentoring (for employees on
Learnership and Internship Programmes) and in-service-training. The
mentoring program needs to be expanded in a formalized way, beyond people who
are on Learnership programmes and Internship programmes. We are also guided by our workplace skills
plan to offer training to be able to meet our service delivery objectives.
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