Durban -
Matters of gender violence must be prioritised, Chief Justice Mogoeng Mogoeng said in Durban on Friday.
“It will take a collective and commitment to relieve women from the suffering (and) pain that they have endured for far too long,” Mogoeng said at a women's judges conference at the University of KwaZulu-Natal.
“We need to ensure that we have a solid team of investigating officers with special skills to investigate crime of gender violence, that receives regular training.”
He said medical doctors examining rape victims needed to know what they were doing and laboratories that did DNA tests in sexual violence cases needed to deliver results speedily to the courts.
“Officials must be sensitised to the special care that victims of sexual and other forms of gender violence require,” Mogoeng said.
The nation needed to make a brutal introspection if it wanted a society that did not abuse women.
Mogoeng said it was important for parents raising boys to teach them respect and to lead by example.
“If I beat up people, he will learn that is how he is suppose to be. If I insult people in public he will learn that is how he is suppose to be.
“As South Africans we should mind our language, we have become too loose to express our anger,” he said.
Mogoeng said the media could play a role in broadcasting programmes with material that taught parents how to raise children.
“The toy guns we buy for our children, the movies they watch and possibly the language employed in addressing issues at home and in the public domain, should perhaps be examined and be debated openly,” Mogoeng said. - Sapa