Cape Town - Members of the community protested outside the Khayelitsha Magistrate’s Court where a man accused of murdering and setting alight his 27-year-old girlfriend appeared.
The Rape Survivors Justice Campaign (RSJC) members joined the community protest outside the court demanding better services for rape survivors.
Vuyokazi Mgolondela from Makhaza was brutally murdered and her body burnt allegedly by Vuyolwethu Ganjana who was her boyfriend at the time. Her charred body was found three metres from Walter Sisulu Road in Khayelitsha.
The protest highlighted the government’s delay in providing services to rape survivors in the form of a sexual offences court in the area.
The advocacy project handed over a monitoring report to the justice department setting out what upgrades must be done to ensure that a sexual offences court can be used to serve rape survivors.
They recommended that two containers be placed in a safe and secure space that would help to reduce the secondary trauma suffered by survivors by providing easy access to the courtroom, limiting the possible contact with the perpetrator.
Rape Crisis advocacy specialist Jeanne Bodenstein said three years after they first made their plea, the department still had not ensured that all the infrastructure was in place for a sexual offences court in the area.
“Our report found that some of the biggest gaps at the court is the lack of special infrastructure. We recommended that the department set up a mobile unit fitted with water, electricity and other ventilation, to add necessary office space and ablution facilities.
“This has not been done although this was initially suggested more than a year ago and the department of justice promised to establish a sexual offences court in Khayelitsha, ” she said.
Bodenstein said many survivors don’t trust the criminal justice system to handle their case and don’t even report it.
“The regulations for sexual offences courts make provision for prosecutors to guide the police in their investigation of the case, and this means better access to justice for survivors.
“This community faces extremely high rates of rape and other sexual offences. Sexual offences courts provide special infrastructure, special personnel and special services, which aims to reduce secondary trauma. Without these, going to court to testify can be extremely traumatic and cause a lack of trust in the criminal justice system,” she said.
Action Society spokesperson Daleen Gouws said implementation of these courts together with the organisation's ability to do its own testing and investigation will lead to more and faster sentencing.
“We need to arrest and prosecute sexual offenders while evidence of their monstrous act is still fresh and at hand. These people need to be removed from our communities before they can destroy another life,” she said.
Cape Argus