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The Minister of Social Development has indicated in a reply to a parliamentary question that government does not keep reliable statistics on domestic violence. A copy of the reply can be found here.
In particular, the reply reveals that the South African Police Service (SAPS) does not consider domestic violence a stand-alone crime when it compiles statistics. As a result, the SAPS cannot track trends and develop effective policing strategies to combat domestic violence.
This makes a mockery of the SAPS’s oft-stated priority to reduce violence against women. I will today write to the Chairperson of the Portfolio Committee on Women, Children and People with Disabilities, Dorothy Ramodibe, requesting that the Minister of Police be summoned before the Committee to explain why the police do not keep domestic violence statistics.
Such a Committee meeting will also give the Minister a chance to explain the numerous other deficiencies in the SAPS’s approach to domestic violence recently identified in a study by the Tshwaranang Legal Advocacy Centre. These include:
• The lack of required documentation such as forms at police stations;
• Inadequate training of police officers on the implementation of the Domestic Violence Act;
• The widespread failure of police to protect victims of domestic violence;
• The failure of oversight mechanisms (such as the Independent Complaints Directorate) to act against police officers who ignore the obligations that the Domestic Violence Act places on them;
• The SAPS’ failure to report to Parliament on the implementation of the Domestic Violence Act every six months as required by law.
This Women’s Month, as we celebrate the contribution that women make to our society and raise awareness of the inequalities that persist, let us go beyond rhetoric. Let us identify the real obstacles to women’s empowerment and develop concrete solutions to overcome them. Compiling a reliable set of domestic violence statistics would be a good place to start.