LIMPOPO LEGAL ADVICE CENTRE
NAKEDI MOGALE
COORDINATOR AND RESEACHER
PORTFOLIO COMMITTEE ON POLICE
Briefing by Civil Society Organisations on Recent
Research and Experience on Service Delivery on the
DVA and the FCS Units.
LIMPOPO LEGAL ADVICE CENTRE
• We would like to bring the following to the
attention of the Portfolio Committee on
Police:
• DOMESTIC VIOLENCE
• INVESTIGATION ON SEXUAL OFFENCES
• CHILD AND WOMEN ABUSE
Some Statistics
• According to the survey for the period 1998-2005 compiled by the
United Nations, South Africa was ranked number one in the world
for rapes per capita.
• In 2005 one in three of 4,000women questioned in Johannesburg
was raped. according to the survey south Africa has some of the
highest incidences of child and baby rape in the world.
• The survey also discovered that 60% of both boys and girls thought
it was not violent to force sex upon someone they know.
• While around 11% of boys and 4% of girls admitted to forcing some
one else to have sex with them.
• 1,500 school children in Johannesburg township Soweto, a quarter
of all the boys interviewed said that JACKROLLING, a term for gang
rape, was fun.
• More than half of the interviewees insisted that when a girl says no
to sex ,she really mean yes.
Introduction
• As a community activist based in the deep rural
areas of LIMPOPO PROVINCE, I witnessed the
growing issues of sexual violence, domestic
violence and child abuse.
• And thousands of cases that go unresolved and
prosecuted particularly in the deep RURAL AREA
OF LIMPOPO where I come from, I had to stand
up and take this kind of opportunity together
with my fellow civil society working group to
address the PARLIAMENTARY COMMITTEE ON
POLICE.
Experiences of survivors
• The forensic experts, the police and the prosecution
have to treat the survivor’s body as a crime scenewhich is what it is- but often they end up making things
worse than necessary for the survivor.
• The women ‘s evidence is the prosecution’s main
weapon in the trial, and it is crucial to ensure a
conviction.
• It is hard enough to talk about intimate sexual details in
public, let alone describing a rape to a group of often
hostile and disbelieving strangers.
• Court support helps the survivor hold her fragile and
intimate story together.
Criminal Justice System
• South Africa ‘s criminal justice system- from
the police, courts and prison-is flawed and
stressed,
• But if perpetrators were effectively prosecuted
and jailed, this would act as both deterrent
and punishment.
• The alternative is vigilantism and mob justice,
which as civil society organizations do not
approve of that, we believe in the rule of law.
Conclusion
• Lastly at the root of this complex judicial
problem, is something quite simple:
• STAFFING
• TRAINING
• AND LOGISTICS
LIMPOPO LEGAL ADVICE CENTRE
THANK YOU VERY MUCH
AND
GOD BLESS YOU ALL.