Protesters want better court

KHAYELITSHA: SEXUAL OFFENCES VICTIMS LACK MANY FACILITIES, SAY ACTIVISTS

Survivors of rape and other offences find it difficult to navigate the building.

About 30 people protested outside the Khayelitsha Magistrate’s Court this week, demanding a better sexual offences court. The protest, organised by Rape Crisis’ Rape Survivors Justice Campaign (RSJC), was part of the 16 Days of Activism for No Violence against Women and Children Campaign on the occasion of the presentation of a report on the Khayelitsha Regional Court.

The monitoring report found that survivors of rape and other sexual offences often found it difficult to navigate the court building.

The court preparation room and consultation rooms were outside the safe area that had been created with access control;

“Proper infrastructure and access to justice for all” and “Justice for rape survivors”, the protesters sang and danced and chanted Wathint’ abafazi, wathint’ imbokodo (You strike a woman, you strike a rock).

“Government has signed the regulations to the promise made long ago to roll out sexual offences courts across SA, but we found out that Khayelitsha Court is lacking very important things,” said the RSJC’s Mandisa Mbotshelwa.

“The sexual offences court in Khayelitsha needs a separate entrance where the survivor will not bump into the perpetrator.

“We need separate rest rooms for survivors, we need comfortable waiting rooms for elderly survivors and survivors who are living with disabilities, and we need basic things like toys and colouring books for children.”

Mbotshelwa said the RSJC had worked on the monitoring report for a month.

Nontombi Ndzoyiya said she joined the protest because “day in and day out, women and children are being raped and the perpetrators are just walking free”. – Republished from GroundUp.org.za