Programme Director,
Chairperson of the National House of Traditional Leaders, Kgosi Maubane, and the leadership of the KZN Provincial House of Traditional Leaders
Director-General of the Department of Women, Children, and People with Disabilities, Ms Veliswa Baduza
Director of Public Prosecutions of KZN, Ms Noko
Acting Regional Head, Ms Mable Ramela,
Chief Magistrate of Durban and EXCO Member of the Chief Magistrate’s Forum, Mr Mabaso
Senior Managers,
JCPS Cluster Departments,
Traditional Leaders,
Civil Society Organisations and the Non-Governmental Sector
Members of the media
Ladies and gentlemen.
It gives me great pleasure to address you during this time when our country is commemorating 16 Days of Activism of No Violence against Women and Children under the theme Vikela Mzansi! Kwanele – Communities united in preventing violence against women and children!
As we are all aware, the 16 Days of Activism Campaign is intended to unite the country against the escalating levels of violence which is committed mainly against vulnerable people. We are happy that the international community, through the United Nations, has adopted this campaign and declared the 25th of November in every year as the International Day for the Elimination of Violence against Women.
This campaign is founded on the noble principles of dignity and freedom which finds expression in our Constitution and contributes towards the broader commitment to build a human-right based society free from violence and abuse.
As expressly encapsulated in the National Development Plan which is the country’s vision until 2030, we need to all work towards a South Africa in which all its citizens and visitors live and walk freely without fear of victimisation and crime.
The purpose of the 16 Days of Activism Campaign goes to the heartbeat of society’s very existence. It is a known fact that the escalating levels of violence threaten the stability of communities and general social cohesion.
Just yesterday, media reported the worst horrific rape of a six week old baby who is, as we speak, fighting for her life in the ICU. It is alleged that she was raped by her uncle, and that probably makes her the youngest victim of domestic violence ever. This is one of the heinous crimes committed during the 16 Days of Activism campaign, which we should view as an effort to undermine the collective resolve to deal with gender-based violence and abuse.
Despite these terrible setbacks in our quest to cleanse our communities from violence, it is encouraging to see various sectors coming together to work with law enforcement agencies to deal with this anomalous behaviour.
It is this collective spirit which will deliver victory in our quest to deal with violence against our vulnerable members our society, and build a stable and violent-free society. Together, we have already laid a strong foundation in the past 19 years of our democracy.
Our Constitution expressly affords all persons, particularly the vulnerable women and children, with internationally-recognised human rights that entrench the culture of equality, human dignity, privacy, access to information, access to justice, and most importantly, the right to freedom and security of the persons, which expressly condemns all forms of violence from either public or private sources. As government and civil society, we are here today to jointly condemn all attitudes and behaviours that stand in violation of our Constitution.
Our Constitution provides for the right of the marginalised community of the Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Trans-gender and Intersex (LGBTI) persons not to be discriminated by the state on the ground of sexual orientation.
In 2006, we earned more global recognition when we became the fifth country in the world and the first nation in the African continent to grant official recognition to same-sex marriages.
However, the guaranteed constitutional protection will have no impact, if we do not have the legislative framework and accompanying interventions, like the 16 Days of Activism of No Violence against Women and Children, which are aimed at achieving the objects of our Constitution.
Since 1994, our Parliament has taken great strides to demonstrate the dedicated commitment of government to the constitutional protection guaranteed to the vulnerable persons in our country. We have seen the passing of the Domestic Violence Act No 116 1998 1998, which is now widely recognised for its notable features that seek to provide immediate protection to victims by allowing them to obtain interim protection order in the absence of their abusers. It is the very first Domestic Violence legislation in the world to recognise same-sex relationships as falling within the classification of domestic relationships.
The Maintenance Act No 99 of 1998 also very instrumental in the fight against child neglect and poverty. As we all know the lack of child support often leads to domestic violence.
A turnaround strategy on maintenance is currently being implemented in nine services sites to reduce the turnaround times, queues and improve the general service delivery in maintenance. Through this strategy, almost all our maintenance courts do maintenance payments to beneficiaries via EFT.
This new approach does not only save our clients time from queuing at our courts, but also ensures that the much needed relief in the form of food, school fees, medical fees and other daily needs get to children faster than we have ever done before. In this regard as at March 2013 we had implemented EFT in 310 courts country wide. On average we pay R150m per month to maintenance beneficiaries. R110m is paid at court level whilst R40m is paid through National Office. This means that we are providing the much needed relief in the form of food, medical and school fees to those in dire need. It is also through the Maintenance Turnaround Strategy that we have introduced the mediation services in maintenance so as to speed up the issuing of the maintenance orders, where both parties agree.
The Older Persons Act No 13 of 2006 is yet another legislation that criminalises certain forms of abuse against the elderly. As we all know, defenceless grannies are now attacked at their homes -some because of allegations of witchcraft and others just for money, in some instances with fatal consequences. In the previous financial year, KwaZulu-Natal (KZN) became the third province with the highest rate of reported cases of abuse against the older persons when it recorded 319 new cases of abuse in terms of the Older Persons Act.
The Western Cape registered the highest figure of 734 new cases of abuse against the elderly- followed by Eastern Cape, which recorded 559 new cases of abuse. In the whole country, in 2012/13 financial year, our courts dealt with 2 497 reported cases of abuse against older persons. This is a notable rise from 1 887 cases that were recorded in 2011/12 financial year. It is the duty of all in South Africa to ensure the safety of older persons.
Programme Director, I have been informed that the Department of Social Development has recently finalised the development of the electronic National Register of Abuse of Older Persons. It is time that the convicted abusers of older persons are completely removed from work environments that expose them to older persons and the Justice Crime Prevention Cluster continues to work together to address this scourge.
The Criminal law (Sexual Offences and Related Matters) Amendment Act No 32 of 2007 is yet another piece of legislation that promotes the progressive realisation of victim-support services.
The Department of Justice and Constitutional Development has recently re-claimed our home-grown concept of sexual offences courts, which has now gained recognition as the international best practice model against sexual violence. These courts provide specialised services to reduce secondary traumatisation often suffered by victims of sexual violence. They are intended to reduce the turnaround time in the finalisation of these cases, whilst improving our conviction rate through the provision of dedicated court services.
Programme Director, I am pleased to announce that this month our department has started to provide a Trauma Debriefing Programme to our intermediaries so as to empower them with self-help skills to reduce and prevent vicarious trauma they often suffer from dealing with cases of sexual offences on a daily basis. The plan is to extend this programme to all personnel based at our Sexual Offences Courts.
It is also worth-noting that since August 2013 when our Minister received the report from the Task Team that investigated the viability of re-establishment of Sexual Offences Courts, our department has successfully established six Sexual Offences Courts that are compliant with the newly developed Sexual Offences Court Model. The upgrading of additional six courts will be finalised in December 2013, in our endeavour to deliver the 22 courts planned for this financial year.
We are very comforted by the sentence imposed by the Butterworth Sexual Offences Court against the self-confessed serial killer Bulelani Mabhayi to a total of 25 life sentences. In addition, he received five more life sentences for the rape of five more women at Tholeni Village. We hope this and other stern sentences that are imposed by the courts daily will serve as deterrent to the would be women and children rapists and murderers.
The names of convicted sex offenders has increased from 2 792 to 11 418 names in The National Register for Sex Offenders as at 31 March 2013 to 31 October 2013. In the month of October 2013 alone 3 384 sex offenders were successfully registered. Indeed, this is a notable improvement from many endeavours taken by our department to bring the purpose of this register to life.
To cater for the needs of blind and visually impaired communities, the Department has produced braille public education material to raise awareness to our blind court users on Children’s Act, Maintenance Act, and Domestic Violence Act. Our aim is to have public information on all pieces of legislation available in braille.
We have also translated Forms prescribed by Regulations for Domestic Violence Act into all official languages and distributed them to all lower courts in November 2013 with a view of enhancing access to justice.
This Monday, we launched the Orange Day campaign graced by the United Nations representative. The theme of the campaign was “Safer Public Spaces for our Women and Girls” sought to galvanise officials to take action against abuse and violence. We want our officials to lead as advocates against violence and abuse perpetrated against women and children.
Despite all these efforts, we shall NOT stop trying until we win the battle against gender-based violence. Today’s event symbolises our collective zeal to end violence in our homes. With a single voice, we join the nation as it shouts: ‘Kwanele against the rising figures of domestic violence in our communities!’
Vikela Mzansi! Kwanele – Communities united in preventing violence against women and children campaign is intended to encourage the victims of Domestic Violence to take positive action to protect themselves and their children from the abuse and violence. The victim has the primary responsibility to report violence perpetrated against them and to seek help. Victims are encouraged not to withdraw charges against perpetrators.
Many victims stay in violent relationships until abuse leads to fatality. This scenario was confirmed by the National Study on Intimate Femicides in South Africa conducted in 2009, which revealed that 56% of female homicides are perpetrated by intimate partners. In other words, as a country, we are losing more and more women at the hands of their violent intimate partners.
Ladies and gentlemen, we cannot be idle when the scourge of violence is leaving many children motherless. In response, our department, in partnership with the National Prosecuting Authority and the National House of Traditional Leaders, co-developed the Personalised Safety Plan for Victims of Domestic Violence. This initiative is part of the Ndabezitha Programme that started in 2006 between the three stakeholders to uproot all cultural beliefs and practices that lead to domestic violence in rural communities.
The ‘My Safety Plan against Domestic Violence’ serves a preventative tool against domestic homicides. As studies have shown, many victims are unable to leave their violent relationships due to denial, shame, economic dependency or loyalty to the family. The personalised Safety Plan requires the victim to begin to think of protective steps to take in order to escape unharmed from any violent attack. It is a tool that guides the victim to plan for her safety at home or any place where violence often occurs. It also assists the victim to take appropriate actions of safety when preparing to leave an abusive relationship. In a nutshell, it is a document that keeps the victim always alive to the factors that increase the levels of her vulnerability, and also demands her to take protective measures against the fatal consequences of domestic violence.
This tool carries critical information of the rescue persons and safety places selected by the victim, and must therefore be always kept in person. To ensure that it does not attract unwanted attention of the abuser or related persons, it comes out in a pocket book, discreet ‘lip ice’ container for men, as well as in lipstick containers for ladies. Our Department is now in a process of translating this tool into all official languages. It will also come in an 18 font size to make it accessible to the partially- blind persons and older persons.
Our hope, as the Department of Justice and Constitutional Development, is that this tool will assist victims to escape unharmed from violent attacks. Home is where all should be safe, nurtured and cared for, not a haven of violence and abuse
The department, with the support of its Ndabezitha Partners, intends to hold information sessions and workshops with all stakeholders participating in the domestic violence sector so as to sensitise them of the Safety Planning tool. The aim is to have Safety Plan services available at every service point within the value chain of domestic violence.
Today, the Safety Planning initiative is officially launched in the country, and its success will depend on our collective endeavours to ensure that it filters down to victims of domestic violence. I am therefore making an earnest call to all stakeholders to use this tool as part of victim-support services aimed at empowering the victim against harmful violent attacks.
Through ‘My Safety Plan’, we will not only be able to empower the victim to live in safety, but also ensure that we collectively contribute in restoring social values, safety, security and peace at our homes and in the communities we serve.
It is only when we do it together that we can achieve impactful results.
Kwanele Ma-Afrika!! Kwanele!!
I thank you.
