Courts tackle gender violence

By Advocate Praise Kambula

Given our history of inequality under apartheid, the importance of having access to justice and protection of human rights cannot be overemphasised.

Access to justice empowers citizens, especially the poor and marginalised, to exercise their rights, to be heard and to challenge unfair practices, and hold those in power accountable.

Section 34 of the Constitution states that everyone “has the right to have any dispute that can be resolved by the application of law decided in a fair public hearing before a court or, where appropriate, another independent and impartial tribunal or forum”.

There is no doubt that government has over the past 25 years made advances in ensuring that access to justice becomes a reality to all South Africans. Our successes include the establishment and funding of Legal Aid South Africa which ensures the destitute have access to legal representation.

As the country grapples with violence against women, we have prioritised building new courthouses with fully-fledged services that exclusively respond to gender-based violence and its repercussions. The resuscitation of our sexual offences courts also exhibits our commitment to triumphing over the sexual violence mostly targeting women, children, persons with disabilities, LGBTQIA+ persons, and gender non-conforming persons.

Recently we reached another milestone when President Cyril Ramaphosa officially opened the Booysens Magistrate’s Court, which offers a range of services to support survivors of gender-based violence. In this hi-tech courthouse is also a victim-centric sexual offences court, the 84th in the country and 16th in Gauteng.

As Gauteng persistently registers the highest sexual offence figures in the country, in the 2018/19 financial year we intensified our interventions and upgraded three more regional courts – Randburg, Roodepoort and Germiston – into sexual offences courts, in addition to the Booysens Sexual Offences Court.

Since August 2013, the department has established 89 sexual offences courts in crime-infested communities.

The opening of the court coincided with the signing of the Presidential Declaration against Gender-based Violence and Femicide, endorsed by more than 1 200 women who attended the very first Presidential Summit against Gender-based Violence and Femicide last year. Article 9 of the Declaration requires the continued roll-out of sexual offences courts, Thuthuzela Care Centres and shelters for gender-based violence survivors.

The signing of this declaration by Ramaphosa with selected civil society networks affirms the country’s commitment to the president’s Thuma Mina campaign, which challenges the citizenry and government to work in unison against gender-based violence and femicide.

However, this inspiration cannot be completely achieved unless government establishes a victim-centric justice system that is quick, caring, responsive and effective.

Currently, our home-grown sexual offences courts model takes the lead in the country in safeguarding the rights of the survivor, as encapsulated in the Constitution and the Service Charter for Victims of Crime. The model offers a catalogue of victim support services designed to make the court experience informative, comforting, caring and easy to navigate with minimal help.

The services range from court preparation to pre-trial containment, private waiting room service, private toilets, private testifying service, intermediary service, private kitchenette, travel and food allowance and post trial containment service.

It is within our hands to have a society where we no longer read or hear about the abuse of women and children.

Advocate Praise Kambula is the Head of Vulnerable Groups at the Department of Justice

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