1. 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.

2. 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

3. 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.

4. 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.

5. Experiences of survivors The forensic experts, the police and the prosecution have to treat the survivor’s body as a crime scene- which 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.

6. 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.

7. Conclusion Lastly at the root of this complex judicial problem, is something quite simple: STAFFING TRAINING AND LOGISTICS

8. LIMPOPO LEGAL ADVICE CENTRE THANK YOU VERY MUCH AND GOD BLESS YOU ALL.