Cape Town - Almost 40 percent of police stations in the country do not have the required “victim-friendly rooms” stipulated in the Domestic Violence Act.
Where these rooms - meant to provide a “sensitive space” for victims of abuse or sexual violence - do exist, they are often not used for its intended purpose.
In some cases, they were being used as personal offices, the Civilian Secretariat for Police said in its fourth annual report on the status of implementation of the act and compliance by the SAPS from October 1 last year to March 31.
Ilitha Labantu, which deals with victims of domestic violence and rape, has found that the problem is not merely a question of whether such rooms are available, but also about a lack of training on the “front line” in police stations, according to Siphokazi Bona, a senior social worker with the organisation.
Bona said the Gugulethu police station, for example, had a room for victims of such offences, but the problem lay in the way the report was handled.
“The problem is with the front office where survivors come to lay a charge,” she said.
“The front line of police stations is supposed to be taking people to this particular room where they are in a safe space.”
Bona said she knew of cases where people were not only not taken to a safe space but, in some of them, not helped at all.
She believed this was because of a lack of training.
In just one case, she said, a woman was raped in Philippi, but lived in Gugulethu. She went to the police station in Gugulethu to report the incident, but was told instead to report it in Philippi.
Reluctant to return to the area where she had been raped, the woman went home.
Bona said Ilitha Labantu had approached police stations to offer free training to sensitise police about victims of violence.
Czerina Patel, communications manager for Sonke Gender Justice, said it was important to provide a space at police stations for victims of gender-based violence, not just for the opening of a police case, but for medical assistance, counselling and trauma support - all of which were necessary after a rape or assault.
“It is important that victims of gender-based violence are met with victim-friendly services where their rights and dignity are respected and where they are not subjected to secondary victimisation by inefficient or untrained members of the criminal justice system.”
Cape Times