Report on Delivery to Women

13. JUSTICE and CONSTITUTIONAL DEVELOPMENT

Internal Achievements

• A comprehensive Gender Policy Statement has been developed within the Department.
• The Department has an official policy of acceleration of equality between men and women.
• The Department has been committed to Employment Equity since 1996, and is now exploring creative ways of accelerating female representation in the judiciary, the magistracy and senior management structures in the Department
• The Deputy Minister is a woman who has played an instrumental role in drawing attention to the issue of violence against women.
• A decision has been taken to establish a Gender Forum. Its terms of reference are incorporated in the Gender Policy Statement.
• The Department is currently implementing a Women’s Leadership Development Programme to accelerate the integration of women and to ensure their sustained participation in decision-making structures and processes in the justice system.
• Achievements For South African Women
• Policies and Legislation
• A Gender Policy Statement has been drafted which creates a vision for gender integration within the Department as well as in terms of services offered to women.
• National Policy Guidelines for handling victims of sexual offences were developed and implemented in 1997.
• A Victim Empowerment Policy being developed, including a Victim’s Charter
• Legislation on minimum sentencing for serious crimes, including rape, has been passed.
• The Domestic Violence Act (1998) defines domestic violence in broad terms, extends the range of relationships that are protected and places obligations on law enforcement agents to actively assist women to assert their rights.
• Justice Vision 2000, a five year National Strategy for Transforming the Administration of Justice identifies a number of strategic interventions to alleviate the plight of, and respond to the needs of women.
• A draft bill on Succession Under Customary Law has been approved by Cabinet
• The Criminal Procedure Amendment Act (1996) is aimed at eliminating delays in finalization of trials for women and children.
• Legislative amendments were introduced in 1995 to strengthen the court’s powers to refuse bail in rape cases, especially where a weapon is used or when a gang rape occurs.
• Maintenance legislation has been changed to improve the effectiveness of maintenance administration as an interim measure, pending a complete overhaul of the system.
• An Act on the recognition of customary marriages has been passed. It abolishes the minority status of women married under customary law, equalises property and other relations between spouses, and places customary marriages on a par with civil marriages.
• The Department has embarked on the process of developing Equality Legislation as prescribed in Section 9 of the Constitution. This will aim to eliminate all forms of discrimination in public and private organisations.

Programmes and Activities

• The Department is in the process of establishing gender desks at all magistrate’s courts.
• The popularisation of various human rights instruments through posters, summaries, workshops and media work, is actively undertaken
• A National Women’s Justice Programme has been established to promote access to justice for women.
• Managers in the Department are being trained, on an ongoing basis, in gender analysis and gender mainstreaming.
• The Department has developed a relationship with the Law, Race and Gender Unit at the University of Cape Town, which conducts training of magistrates, and prosecutors
• The 16 Days Programme, which aims to raise awareness about violence against women and children, is co-ordinated by the office of the Deputy Minister.
• A Pre-trial Services project has been initiated to provide counselling and legal advice for victims.
• There are initiatives to create witness friendly courts include separate waiting rooms, counselling services, one way mirrors and closed circuit television sets to protect vulnerable witnesses. Some courts also provide refreshment facilities and change/playrooms for children.
• Sexual Offences Courts are being established in all regions.
• Family Courts are in the process of being set up in several centres.
• Justice College is co-ordinating courses on the sexual offences guidelines and other aspects of violence against women.
• The Department ran national gender policy workshops with traditional and religious leaders to deal with justice issues in customary and religious marriages focusing on the fairness of substantive law and dispute resolution mechanisms.
• The Department co-ordinated the SADC Conference in March 1998 on violence against women, and produced a Declaration on the Eradication and Prevention of Violence Against Women and Children.
• In partnership with the OSW, the CGE and other government departments, the Department convened a National Conference of Commitments to the Implementation of the SADC Declaration on the 25th November 1998.
• Justice College is co-ordinating human rights training to train magistrates, state attorneys and prosecutors. Clerks, interpreters and paralegals will also be trained.

Budget Allocation

• The Legal Aid Board has set aside a special gender fund to address the gender gap in legal assistance (Women have not been able to access legal aid in matrimonial disputes such as divorce, custody and maintenance and domestic violence cases).
• A special allocation of R 7 million has been added towards the implementation of maintenance and domestic violence legislation.
• Branches in the Department have been requested to re-prioritise their budgets to reflect a gender and child perspective in their expenditure in order to include gender and children’s issues in the mainstream of activities and priorities.