‘Keep laying those charges’

Police Minister Fikile Mbalula, pictured, yesterday called on people to stop withdrawing gender-based crimes charges and said that he was introducing measures into the South African Police Service (Saps) to make it easier to report these crimes.

“I aimed at making it easier and less traumatic to report these crimes. The continued perpetuation of these crimes emanate from the cases that get withdrawn and not reported,” Mbalula said, speaking at the Action Indaba on Gender-based Violence and Protection of Vulnerable Groups in Pretoria.

“Often, victims say they were chased away from police station, or their case was not treated seriously, or they were viewed with suspicion, re-victimised, humiliated or simply ignored by police.

“We must give communities and our vulnerable groups an understanding of their rights so that we could be held to account effectively,” Mbalula said.

“Let us reduce barriers to reporting these crimes. We must put our people first.”

Mbalula said the traditional unequal power relationship between men and women was abhorrent. “The idea that a man has power over his wife, including the complete control over her property and of her daily affairs, is unacceptable. This warped notion that a woman could be a man’s property instilled another idea that a husband had the right to administer physical punishment to his wife,” he said.

“Female victims of domestic violence often retract their police reports or suffer from the inside due to concern over the male breadwinner going to jail.”

He said it “pained” him that some of the country’s public representatives were found on the wrong side of the law on issues of violence against women.

“These cases are very important to the public. They must be handled properly and there must be no favours, nor skewed justice. Perpetrators defile the ground we walk on but we are yet to show them that indeed they do.” –ANA