Report
of the Portfolio Committee on Women, Children, Youth and People with
Disabilities on oversight visit held in Limpopo Province from the 04 – 06
August 2010 dated 12 March 2014
The Portfolio Committee on Women, Children, Youth and
People with Disabilities, having undertaken an oversight visit to Limpopo
Province reports as follows:
1.
Introduction
The Portfolio Committee on Women, Children, Youth and
People with Disabilities undertook an oversight visit to the Limpopo Province
from 04 – 06 August 2010. The Committee met with the Thohoyandou Victim
Empowerment Programme, Sibasa Sexual Offences Court, Thuthuzela Trauma Centre based at Tshilidzini
Hospital, Thohoyandou Police Station, Trauma Centre based at Donald Fraser
Hospital and Projects funded by the National Youth Development Agency (NYDA)
such as Gym4U, Mvelelo Graphic Design and SARMASH
Trading.
2.
Objectives
The objectives of the visit were to assess the
services of the Department of Justice and Constitutional Development and Police
and the impact of the youth projects funded by the National Youth Development
Agency (NYDA).
3.
Delegation
The delegation of the Committee comprised the
following:
African
National Congress (ANC)
Ms P Petersen – Maduna
Ms D Ramodibe
Ms B Thompson (leader of the delegation)
Ms GK Tseke
Democratic
Alliance (DA)
Ms P Duncan
Ms D Robinson
Congress
of the People (COPE)
Ms SP Rwexana
United
Christian Democratic Party (ACDP)
Ms IC Ditshetelo
The Committee was accompanied by the following
Parliamentary officials
Ms N Nobatana, Committee Secretary, Committee Section
Ms K Abrahams, Committee Researcher, Research Unit
Ms C Levendale, Committee
Researcher, Research Unit
Mr Johnny van der Westhuizen, Committee Assistant,
Committee Section
The Committee met with the following delegation:
Ms
F Nicholson, Programme Director, Thohoyandou Victim Empowerment Programme
(TVEP)
Mr
M Tshilidzi, Manager: Access to Justice Cluster, TVEP
Mr
MA Kwinda, Clinical Manager, Donald Fraser Hospital
Mr
E Mulaudzi, Acting Chief Executive Officer (CEO),
Donald Fraser Hospital
Dr
NN Mukwevho, Clinical Manager &
CEO, Tshilidzini Hospital
Major
– General NJ Baloyi, Thoyoyandou
Cluster Commander, South African Police Station
Colonel
DL Luvhengo, Commander Vispol,
South African Police Service
Mr
R Weideman, Chief Prosecutor, Sibasa
Sexual Offences Court
Mr
J Makhado, Owner (Gym4U), National Youth Development Agency (NYDA)
Mr
L Ravele, Owner (Mvelelo
Graphic Design), NYDA
Ms MS Mudau,
Owner (SARMARSH Trading), NYDA.
4. MEETING WITH THOHOYANDOU
VICTIM EMPOWERMENT PROGRAMME (TVEP)
The Committee was welcomed by the programme director and the trustee of
the empowerment centre. A brief background was provided to the Committee on the
establishment of the empowerment centre. The Committee was informed that the
centre is operated by 30 staff members and 46 local volunteers who assist in
the building of the in house capacity. The objectives are as follows:
The organisation has assisted 40 rape victims and 80 domestic violence
cases every month since opening in 2001.
58% of all rape survivors are children and 38% are under the age of 13
according to the centre. It received funding from the Department of Social
Department but that was considered to be inadequate. The Centre was assisted by
trustees in terms of paying rent and services such as water for offices.
5. SIBASA SEXUAL OFFENCES COURT
The Committee
was addressed by Mr Weidemann, Chief Prosecutor of
the Court. Mr Weidemann informed the Committee that
the court was no longer a sexual offences court but was dealing with rape
cases. In terms of staff, the court has 1 contract magistrate dealing with old
and new cases, 1 control prosecutor and 2 prosecutors. The Committee was
informed that the court deals with cases of domestic violence. Domestic
violence cases are also dealt with in different magistrate courts. In terms of
withdrawal of cases, the Committee was informed that the court does not have
records of withdrawals of cases. Regional Courts have records of such
withdrawals. The Committee was informed that the court had 410 cases of rape for
2009. Out of the 410 rape cases, 99 cases were postponed, 127 were withdrawals,
44 people were found guilty, 102 not guilty and 14
warrants of arrest were issued. In terms of reasons for withdrawal of cases,
the Committee was informed that cases were withdrawn due to the request by the
complainant, cases not properly investigated and others are withdrawn by the
Prosecutors. The major problem highlighted was the shortage of staff. The Court
had two vacancies for Prosecutors and applicants who applied were rejected
because the applicants did not apply for the appropriate court e.g. Sibasa Court. The court is also not well resourced in terms
of offices and computers. The issue of shortage of social workers was
highlighted but the Committee was informed that the Department of Justice and
Constitutional Development was dealing with the issue.
6. TSHILIDZINI THUTHUZELA TRAUMA CENTRE
The Tshilidzini Thuthuzela Trauma
Centre deals with victims of domestic violence. It is accommodated at Tshilidzini hospital. The Committee visited the centre and
were later addressed by Dr Mukwevho. The doctor informed the Committee that the
hospital offers the following services to victims of domestic violence:
·
Debriefing to victims of abuse;
·
Examine victims when in hospital and offer them
medical supplies;
·
Refer victims to social workers, police officials
and to the Department of Justice and Constitutional Development for assistance;
and
·
Provide short term accommodation to victims of
domestic violence.
The Committee
was informed that the hospital collaborates with the Department of Police which
assist victims in terms of transport to courts and making statements to police
officials. The hospital works with the police officials in terms of
transporting victims from their home to the hospital. Furthermore, the
Committee was also informed that the hospital and the trauma centre handles
about 40 rape cases per day. The number of rape cases is also determined by the
time of the month i.e. these incidents happens towards the end of the month.
The Committee was informed that mostly girls are sexually assaulted and mostly
boys from prisons are sexually assaulted. Between May – July 2010, the
following rape cases were reported:
May: 36 cases
were reported, 1 male and the rest were females range from 6-82 years old.
June: 32 cases
reported, aged between 5 – 13 years and the oldest was
80 years old.
July: 2 males, 5
year old child and a person with a disability.
The Committee
was informed that the following were challenges faced by the hospital:
(i)
Withdrawal of cases by the victims;
(ii)
Office space limited resulting in services not
being rendered to the victims;
(iii)
Shelter for victims - building currently used to
accommodate victims is problematic because of materials used to build the
shelter.
(iv) Forensic nurse
not available in hospital. The hospital trained 3 nurses to be forensic nurses
but the staff have resigned and moved to other institutions.
(v)
The hospital has 6 social workers and one auxiliary
worker dealing with victims of domestic violence and one psychologist and
sometimes requests district psychologists for assistance. The hospital has one
gynaecologist and 2 paediatricians to assist children who are abused.
7. DONALD FRASER HOSPITAL
The Committee
visited the Thuthuzela Trauma Centre which is based
at Donald Fraser Hospital. The Committee was addressed by Dr Kwinda at the hospital. The Committee was informed that the
hospital offers the following services:
(i)
Trauma debriefing to victims of domestic violence
and abuse.
(ii)
Refers victims to relevant professional
institutions for further assistance and interventions such as social workers,
police, doctors and the magistrate.
(iii)
Ensures that victims are examined where there are
physical injuries.
(iv)
Offers court support.
(v)
Monitor the status of the victim’s cases to ensure
that justice prevails.
Positives
(i)
The South African Police assist in transportation
of victims to the magistrate courts for protection orders.
(ii)
The hospital also plays a crucial role to assist
victims by providing supplementary services.
(iii)
Accompany victims to collect their belongings for
protection purposes.
(iv)
Victims do not have to go the police stations to
open cases, police officials come to the trauma centre to assist victims to lay
charges against perpetrators.
(v)
Victims are also of the status of their cases and
victims report their cases of abuse.
Challenges
The challenges
were highlighted as follows:
(i)
Withdrawal of cases by victims which might be the
cause for circle of abuse.
(ii)
Shortage of office space including the play room
for children.
(iii)
No shelter around the district for victims of abuse
except for the safe house which does not provide long term accommodation.
8. VISIT TO THE NATIONAL YOUTH DEVELOPMENT
AGENCY ON THE 5 AUGUST 2010
The
Committee visited the Gym4U, Mvelelo Graphic Design
and Sarmash Trading - all projects funded by the
National Youth Development Agency. The Committee was accompanied by Mr B Ntshobane and Mr Percy Madziwo
from the National Youth Development Agency.
Gym4U
The
project is lead by Mr Junior Makhado, who manages two gyms in Thohoyandou and
Polokwane. Mr Junior Makhado received assistance from the NYDA through the
business consultancy voucher programme where he received a business plan
voucher. He also received R1.2 million business loan
from the NYDA Small and Medium Enterprise programme. The gym employed 46
people.
Mvelelo Graphic Design
The
project is operated by Livhunai Ravele
who is an NYDA beneficiary and a service provider. The owner operates a graphic
design and computer training studio. He received assistance through the
business consultancy service voucher programme and received a tendering voucher
valued at R4.500. He supports other young people with graphic design through
the same voucher programme and employs two people.
SARMASH TRADING
Ms Mashudu Mudau operates a
sewing/clothing manufacturing shop and received R25.604 microfinance loan from
the Agency. She employs four people.
9. OBSERVATIONS
Having visited
the hospitals and police station, the Committee made the following observations:
(i)
Shortage of staff which includes forensic nurses,
psychologists and social workers to deal with victims of domestic violence.
(ii)
Shortage of shelters to accommodate victims of
domestic violence for long term purposes.
(iii)
Lack of understanding by police officials on
dealing with victims of domestic violence and the Domestic Violence Act, 1998.
10. RECOMMENDATIONS
Having
deliberated on observations, the Committee made the following recommendations:
(i)
The Department of Health and Social Development should
employ more forensic nurses, psychologists and social workers to assist victims
of domestic violence in hospitals.
(ii)
The Department of Human Settlements and Social
Development should ensure that accommodation for victims of abuse is adequate
and available for long term purposes.
(iii)
The Department of Police should provide training to
police officials on the Domestic Violence Act, 1998.
11. CONCLUSION
Having
undertaken the oversight visit, the Committee concludes that it will raise
issues of concern of police stations and hospitals to the National Assembly
House in Parliament.