Page 29 - SCAT GBV Report - Addressing Gender-Based Violence - 2021

People in the rural areas, they forum shop a lot. They need that flexibility. If they are not satisfied with the decision of the traditional court, then they know they can go to court, and if they are not satisfied they should then go to the system that is led by paralegals ... One single case can be solved using multiple justice systems ... harmonise all these systems to try and get a solution for the client.
Winnie Martins, key informant.
Working at this critical intersection also involves increasing women’s access to and control over land and property, as well as expanding their leadership roles within traditional structures, so as to influence decision-making. LDAs operate at the interface between modernist and customary regimes, in their efforts to offer practical solutions that recognise and protect the dignity and rights of all persons. This means working with what is and what could be.
3.2
There are different schools of thought on traditional justice systems ... But whether we accept them or not, they are there. They are provided for in the Constitution, and communities make use of them ... So instead of pushing for their elimination, maybe we should build their capacity to understand the privilege that they have as men – because many of them are men – and understand the disadvantages, not just to women, but to themselves as an area for development.
Welekazi Stofile, NGO stakeholder.
There are good things in culture, but also the bad. We need to maintain and sustain the good things, and do away with the bad things. Nobuzwe Mofokeng, ILDA.
System failures: “The justice system is not with women”22
Systemic failures to protect, support and attain justice for GBV survivors is widely recognised, as is the unevenness in the quality and extent of services provided to women and girls living in rural areas (Government of South Africa, 2020). Respondents in this study describe a litany of ways in which government departments (the Departments of Justice, Social Development, and Health, in particular) consistently fail victims of violence and abuse. From passive neglect and disinterest, through to secondary victimisation, these failures to implement the spirit and intent of law and policy is starkly revealed.
Police play a life and death role in many cases. If they don’t do their job properly, then there’s a crisis.
Wendy Pekeur, Ubuntu.
The challenge is really with the justice system, because at the police station you arrest the perpetrator and the person gets released. Then you ask yourself at the police station, what else can I do? ... So, we find it difficult, even us [as police]. When is the justice system going to see that our people are suffering? Because they keep on giving out free bail. Nontuthuzelo Sibaca, SAPS stakeholder.
Emmerentia Goliath, WRCD.
22.
“Finish this Elephant”: Rural Community Organisations’ Strategic Approaches to Addressing GBV 29