Minister in the Presidency at the launch of the Women's Justice and Empowerment
Initiative in Cape Town
2 April 2009
Programme Director, Advocate Thoko Majokweni from the National Prosecution
Authority (NPA)
Advocate Mokotedi Mpshe from NPA
United States representatives, Dr Raymond Brown and Dr Carleene Dei from
USAID
Mr Stephen Blight from United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF)
Dr Peter Vaz from RTI International
Members of the Interdepartmental Management Team
Members of the Judicial System
Distinguished Ambassadors present
Ladies and Gentlemen, all of whom are here today because of your commitment to
ending violence against women and children
I am honoured to share this moment with you. I wish to express the
Presidency's and Government's sincere appreciation to both the
Interdepartmental Management Team and the US government for inviting us to
share with you the launching of the Women's Justice and Empowerment Initiative
(WJEI) that seeks to support the South African Government's programme focused
on violence against women and children.
The victim support component of the WJEI in South Africa is a three year
11,7 million dollar initiative funded by the United States Agency for
International Development (USAID) under a bilateral agreement with the
Department of Justice and Constitutional Development. It provides support to
the Sexual Offences and Community Affairs unit (SOCA) of the National
Prosecuting Authority (NPA).
As you may know South Africa is committed to ensuring a better life for all,
free from violence, especially against women and children. Government is fully
aware of the need to ensure the protection of the rights to equality, human
dignity, privacy and freedom, as well as security of each person in this
country as mandated by our constitution. The commitment is also informed by the
obligations South Africa has in terms of international instruments for human
rights such as the Beijing Platform for Action, Convention on the Elimination
of all forms of Discrimination against Women, the Southern African Development
Community (SADC) Protocol on Gender and Equality, the Solemn Declaration on
Gender Equity, including the African Union (AU) Gender Policy.
Violence against women and children is an obstacle to the achievement gender
equality, development and peace as stipulated in our Constitution and enshrined
in the Bill of Rights. It is violation of the enjoyment by women and children,
of their basic human rights and freedoms.
The South African Government and its people therefore appreciate and welcome
the United States' support through the USAID to support us to implement our
program to upgrade and expand the one-stop Thuthuzela Care Centre network. This
initiative has pioneered efforts to better protect the rights of women and
children by providing vital support to victims of domestic violence, and sexual
violence and abuse throughout the justice system. Thuthuzela Care Centre
provide improved services (health and welfare) and initiate processes for
effective reporting and prosecution of offences in a dignified and caring
environment â offering these services to the victims in a one-stop centre by
qualified professionals.
This launch today is dedicated not only at celebrating the partnership but
also at finding ways of advancing the struggle for the rights of women and
children who are the most vulnerable and abused people in our society. Rape and
gendered crimes are the most adorable and shameful acts of violence in any
given society. A country that does not respect its women and children has no
future and is doomed to extinction.
This violence must stop. We must unite and intensify the fight to stop
gender based violence. And I hope that through this partnership and
intersectoral collaboration we will be a step closer to achieving this
objective by continually improving our interventions and responses in this
regard.
We acknowledge that we cannot achieve this alone. As it became even more
evident during the Tsireledzani Human Trafficking conference last week, gender
crimes know no boundaries or borders. We are therefore compelled as governments
to effectively respond through various initiatives and partnerships. Government
efforts must be accompanied by practical steps and actions which must be taken
by all sectors of our society in partnership with each other including
communities in order to end all forms of violence against women, children, the
elderly and people with disabilities. It is also through a strong partnership
between Governments, civil society, business, labour and all sectors of our
communities that we can address this scourge successfully!
In his announcement of Women's Justice Empowerment Initiative (WJEI) in
2005, President Bush mentioned the Thuthuzela Care Centre model by name as the
sort of program the WJEI is poised to support in South Africa. As a sign of the
growing recognition that Thuthuzela Care Centres represent a world-best model,
Thuthuzela-modelled care centres for rape victims are being opened in Chile
following the visit of our government delegation. It is through such
inter-governmental sharing and collaboration that we can meaningfully succeed.
We are also happy to report that the entourage present here today has visited
our Thuthuzela Care Centre and command South Africa for this initiative.
The partnership that we are promoting is not the one characterized by the
dominance of one party over the other. It is a relationship based on mutual
understanding and respect. It is also a relationship based on the sharing on
knowledge and information, skills and expertise, experiences and resources and
mutually beneficial partnership that can be replicable some where else in the
Region and Africa, and internationally.
Gender based violence in South Africa and everywhere else, demands an
urgent, sustained responses based on reliable information to ensure:
* effective resource allocation and management within the Criminal Justice
System (CJS)
* improved offender accountability
* effective and widespread crime prevention.
* sufficient multi disciplinary collaboration to provide an effective service
delivery.
These were the principles that guided us in the conceptualization and the
establishment of the first Thuthuzela Care Centre clinics in the 1990s. I must
therefore, ladies and gentlemen, necessarily rejoice to see all of you here
today, committed to making a difference in the countries and organizations that
you offer to the victims of gender based violence.
To you, Dr Brown in particular and all our co-operating partners, it is our
pleasure to have partnered with you in servicing the communities as we have
done over the years, as it helped in developing skills and expertise which are
unique in their form and content, which indeed are scarce and rare to find. We
need these skills and expertise for learning and growth within the continent,
to improve the services we offer.
Finally, child abduction, forced and early marriage has recently been
identified as another form of harmful cultural practice currently practiced in
South Africa. This practice has recently been reported in parts of Pondoland in
the Eastern Cape. After a successful Imbizo to sensitise the community about
this form of a violation of human rights on 24 March 2009, we will be going
back to sign a memorandum of understanding between the organisation of
traditional leaders (CONTRALESSA) and Government on preventing "ukuthwala"
(abduction of young girls, who are forced into early marriages) and thereafter
we will finalise a plan of action to address the issue. We also intend to visit
a hostel which is being used as a place of refuge by the affected girls, to
escape these marriages.
This is another area where your support and expertise could make a great
impact in the lives of these young girls who are being exploited. I must hasten
to add categorically that not all cultural practices are harmful but others
need to be addressed.
Just this week we held a meeting between South Africa and the Government of
Austria and working together will produce a report on harmful traditional
practices in South Africa with the view to submit this to Convention on the
Elimination of all forms of Discrimination Against Women (CEDAW) Committee as a
show case of South Africa's responses to harmful traditional practices, and
further recommendations for improvement.
It is now my honour and privilege to officially and formally launch the
Women's Justice and Empowerment Initiative.
Thank you.
Issued by: The Presidency
2 April 2009
