Are the South African Police Service and the courts equipped to deal with all the rape cases?
LV: In 2005 the Department of Justice declared a moratorium on the roll-out of sexual offences courts. Most of the specialist units of the SAPS, amongst them the Family Violence, Child Protection and Sexual Offences Units, were disbanded and services were integrated into the general police stations. Highly trained people are expected to deal with more general as well as specialist cases – without vehicles, cell phones and specialist support structures. The courts are system-centred and not victim-centred – it is geared towards those who manage the system and not towards the victims. The courts impose arbitrary time limits for how long cases can sit on court rolls before being thrown out. It is about how quickly a case can be processed. Subsequently a victim may not get her day in court and many perpetrators walk free. For example: An investigating officer may go on leave, but his overworked colleagues do not have the time to work on his cases as well as their own. Once he returns to of
