Challenges and Successes in Addressing
Violence Against Women
Presentation to the Parliamentary Portfolio Committee on Women, Children,
Youth and Persons with Disabilities
Introduction
The Rape Crisis Cape Town Trust (RCCTT), established in 1976, empowers rape survivors in the
Western Cape on their journey to recovery and along the road to justice.
We have a vision of a South Africa in which rape survivors suffer no secondary trauma and are
supported throughout all of their interactions with the Criminal Justice System (CJS).
It is our mission to act as a bridge between the rape survivor and the justice system as well as
between the rape survivor and the community. In service of this mission we seek the following
specific changes:
 A decrease in the number of incidents of rape
 Increased reporting of rape incidents by victims
 Higher conviction rates for rapists
 Less secondary trauma for rape survivors seeking access to justice
 Improved services to rape survivors both within the criminal justice system and in
communities
We plan to achieve these changes by meeting the following goals:
1.
Improved services to rape survivors both prior to entering and within the criminal
justice system in order to minimise secondary victimisation and increase the
effectiveness of trials so that conviction rates are increased above the current 4,1%
baseline.
2.
Improved services to rape survivors in communities preventing extended
psychological trauma and further physical harm so that when a woman is raped she
does not suffer consequences that prevent her from:
 parenting her children effectively,
 working to generate income and
 becoming vulnerable to further harm
because these are the things that break down family structures and ultimately the
social fabric of our communities.
3.
A replicable model for rape prevention through interventions with youth that change
social norms both in terms of both attitude and behaviour so that the number of
rape incidents is reduced and there is increased reporting of rape.
4.
Research capacity within Rape Crisis that allows us to build an evidence base for our
advocacy work so that, being evidence based, it has a greater effect and we
demonstrate the impact of our work.
We achieve these goals through coordinated action between our counselling services, our training
and development activities, our court support service and our ongoing advocacy work ensuring a
combined approach that includes preventive, responsive and restorative interventions.
Successes
The Road to Justice
Under the goal of improved services to rape survivors both prior to entering and within the criminal
justice system in order to minimise secondary victimisation and increase the effectiveness of trials so
that conviction rates are increased Rape Crisis offers a range of essential services to women
including:
 A twenty four hour help line offering advice and support to survivors
 Counselling and containment at Thuthuzela Care Centres based at two regional hospitals
 Court support to rape survivors at four regional courts in Cape Town
 Pre-trial consultation to rape survivors preparing to go to trial
 Training to members of the criminal justice system on how to support a rape survivor
 A set of booklets as a guide to survivors for how to play the role expected of them within
the criminal justice system in order to secure a conviction
The Road to Recovery
Under the goal of improved services to rape survivors in communities preventing extended
psychological trauma and further harm so that when a woman is raped she does not suffer
consequences that break down the family structure and damage the social fabric of society Rape
Crisis offers the following essential services to women:
 Counselling services to rape survivors and their families both telephonically, in individual
face-to-face sessions and in support groups
 Training to community based organisations (CBO), faith based organisations (FBO) and
nongovernmental organisations (NGO) in how to offer support to rape survivors
 Training to community groups on the social norms that promote violence against women
and awareness raising about the social norms that prevent it
 An annual awareness raising Stop the Bus Campaign to rural communities of the Western
Cape about their rights to access services and how to support rape survivors
Models of Prevention
Under the goal of developing a replicable model for rape prevention through interventions with
youth that change social norms both in terms of both attitude and behaviour so that the number of
rape incidents is reduced and there is increased reporting of rape, Rape Crisis conducted the
following interventions:
 A peer education programme involving parents, teachers and learners from two schools in
Khayelitsha
 A series of workshops on rape in South Africa at Youth Centres and with community based
organisations working with youth
 An annual three day Birds and Bees Youth Camp for peer educators from different schools to
develop a model for prevention work with youth
Research and Advocacy
Under the goal of developing research capacity within Rape Crisis so that our advocacy work, being
evidence based, has a greater effect and we demonstrate the impact of our work we completed the
following projects:
 The final stages of developing our rape case database, capturing data and producing reports
on the data
 Launching our report on the implementation of the Sexual Offences Act by police, health
facilities and courts in partnership with the Women’s Legal Centre
 Launching our report on monitoring of facilities offering services to rape survivors as part of
a national campaign called the Shukumisa Campaign of which campaign coalition Rape Crisis
is a Steering Committee member
 Screening our virtual tour of the criminal justice system which is an online resource to rape
survivors entering the criminal justice system as well as a training and job aid for criminal
justice system personnel and civil society organisations
 Developing and distributing a tool kit for service providers on how to support a rape survivor
reporting at the police station, going through a forensic examination, undergoing medical
treatment and on her journey to recovery to add to our booklet on supporting rape survivors
during the rape trial
Taken altogether these services reach over 5 000 rape survivors and 12 000 community members
each year, of which just over 3 000 are youth. Given that approximately 6 000 rapes are reported in
the Western Cape annually we believe that we are reaching a significant number of women, children
and youth through our integrated programmes.
Challenges
At the moment lack of funding is still the biggest challenge affecting our progress towards our
broader goals. Over the last three years we lost four international donors, all based in Europe and
each donating significantly more than our local corporate social investment grant makers are able to
offer. Altogether the value of these grants was well over R1 million per annum. There are two
factors at play here. One is that larger foreign aid agencies give 98 percent of their funding to the
South Africa government leaving only two percent available to civil society, as revealed in a recent
report issued by the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD)1. Another is
that South Africa has been classified as a middle income country and this is an excluding criteria for
many middle income international donors who would prefer to give their aid to poorer African
countries. The crisis in the eurozone has also meant that some European countries are in fact using
allocations previously set aside for international donations to address social problems in their own
countries.
Our annual government grant allocation from the Western Cape Department of Social Development
(DSD) has been cut by R400 000 over the last two years. This year they decreased it by a further
R500 000 adding up to an additional loss of R900 000 per annum. The reasons for this are three fold.
Firstly they adopted a financing model that pays organisations per service beneficiary and they
underestimated the cost of these services by more than half in the case of Rape Crisis. They also
underestimated the volume of individuals that we serve. If we look at the Department’s Strategic
Plan 2010/2011 – 2014/2015 we can see that there is very little said about the victims of serious
contact crimes and nothing at all is said about rape in the situational analysis of the province that
serves as a basis for these plans. Very little, if anything, is made of the potentially lethal link
1
O’Riordan,A. Funding Civil Society in South Africa: Where does the money go? The South African Civil Society Information
Service, 3 April 2013 http://sacsis.org.za/site/article/1623#.UWrSZptRLVQ.email
between HIV, substance abuse and violence against women in this document. It is my opinion that
this problem has been seriously underestimated and therefore not correctly budgeted for. On top of
this the number of rape survivors making use of our services increased as a result of our involvement
in the Thuthuzela Care Centre (TCC) at Karl Bremer Hospital, which became the busiest TCC in South
Africa within three months of opening .
In July 2012 the Rape Crisis Board of Trustees took the decision to retrench all but one staff member
effective 31 July 2012 in response to a combined funding and cash flow crisis. Staff were given
written notice and taken through a series of consultations on alternatives to retrenchment as
dictated by Section 189 of the Labour Relations Act. As of 1 August 2012 only the Director remained
as an employee but all of the other staff members have continued to come in and assist the
organisation, some on a part time basis and others full time since that time. All of the staff meetings
since the retrenchments were as well attended as ever.
Rape Crisis is not the only NPO affected by this situation. In a recent survey2 of 695 organisations
80 percent of respondents reported significant funding cuts over the last year. Almost half (45.9
percent) of these have had 20-50 percent of their funding cut, 24.3 percent have had 50-80 percent
cut and 11 percent have had over 80 percent of their funding cut. Funding cuts have come from all
major funding sources with the National Lotteries Board topping the list (44 percent), followed by
corporates (39 percent) and individual donors (37 percent). Interestingly, although funding cuts
were well spread, many respondents expressed frustration with government. More than 43 percent
of the organisations sampled said they had formally retrenched 7,612 permanent, contract, parttime and volunteer staff. Organisations reported a 17 percent overall contraction of the workforce
as a result of the cuts.
I wrote to the Western Cape MEC for Social Development Albert Fritz and in January 2013 we
received notice that his Department would give Rape Crisis a once off donation of R1.3 million,
which addressed most of our shortfall for 2012/2013. This enabled us to put our staff onto short
term contracts in 2013/2014 although these contracts are of different lengths. He later announced
in his Budget Vote speech to the Provincial Legislature that all currently funded NGOs would receive
an inflationary increase of 6 percent.
All of our loyal donors, and in particular local Corporate Social Investment from the Anglo American
Chairman’s Fund, the First for Women Trust and Nedgroup Investments, increased their grants to us
in 2012/2013 to get us through the crisis and the number of individual donations we received
increased to an unprecedented degree. In a recent review of our advancement strategy we decided
to change our current fundraising strategy to working towards raising 20 percent of our annual
budget of R6 million from individual donations and income generation. Previously 99 percent of our
efforts were aimed at grant makers alone. The time has come for us to adopt a far more businesslike
approach to fundraising and we believe that the recent public outcry over the rape, mutilation and
murder of Anene Booysen in Bredasdorp on 2 February 2013 shows that South Africans as citizens
are ready to speak out again violence against women and that South Africans as consumers are
ready to give their money to a worthwhile cause engaged in dealing with it. We also saw that South
African businesses are ready to align their brands with a worthwhile cause and have the full support
of their customers in doing so. Now all we have to do is remind them that we are that cause and that
Rape Crisis needs funds to continue its valuable work.
2
Hobbs, S. Non Profit Job Losses and Service Cuts Report 2012, GreaterGood SA, Cape Town, 2012.
Way Forward
I use this opportunity to flag four issues with the Committee:
 The DSD’S research unit has underestimated the sheer numbers of rapes taking place in the
province and in the country. Given the serious consequences for the country and all of its
provinces that result from this, future collaborations with NGO experts in the field and with
academic research institutions seem worth cultivating. This Committee could play a role in
ensuring civil society’s contribution to setting targets for service delivery with regard to
violence against women by ensuring proper representation of NGOs across South Africa on
its Council on Gender Based Violence and proper province wide research and consultations
on issues such as the prevalence of rape
 The situation with regard to rape in South Africa is much bigger than we think. It is in fact a
crisis. In South Africa our Constitution enshrines the right of women to live free from
violence. Our government has also signed a number of regional and international
conventions agreeing to uphold these same rights and duties. It is time for the state to call
for international assistance. This Committee could call on the South Africa government to
invite the United Nations Special Rapporteur on Violence against Women, Rashida
Manjoo, to make a country visit to South Africa to investigate the problem. Perhaps when
we have the scrutiny and support of the international community we will gather the
resources do what needs to be done. International donors should not be allowed to
contribute towards the erosion of civil society since a robust civil society is essential to a
strong democracy.
 The fact that the Department of Social Development (DSD) has been mandated to lead a
collaboration between the other departments within the Justice Cluster in order to facilitate
greater service coordination for victims of violent crimes such as rape and yet the national
VEP Forum does not seem to be getting enough political backing and neither do its provincial
equivalents. This Portfolio Committee can play a strong role in monitoring the progress of
the Victim Empowerment Programme (VEP) through the DSD’s allocation of budget to this
programme annually. It is currently extremely small and this Committee could lobby for its
increase.
 The National Treasury has expressed an interest in reviewing the NGO funding model
currently being used by the DSD to see if improvements can be made. In fact a significant
amount was promised to relieve the distress of cash strapped NGOs in the National
Treasury’s Medium Term Budget Policy Statement 20123 and this allocation should filter
through to provinces in about July 2013. It would be extremely valuable if this Committee
could monitor this additional allocation that Treasury has made to Social Development,
see how it actually does get allocated across all of the provinces and monitor the
collaboration of Treasury and DSD in developing a more appropriate funding model for
NGOs.
These are matters that should concern the Committee and that they can follow up on in the
immediate future. Perhaps the Committee could invite both the DSD’s Victim Empowerment
Programme (VEP) and the National Treasury to present their plans and budget allocations to the
Committee with a specific focus on the financial distress of NGOs.
Kathleen Dey
Director
22 April 213
3
National Treasury, Republic of South Africa, Medium Term Budget Policy Statement 2012, 25 October 2012
The Rape Crisis Cape Town Trust
Name of Organisation
Date of Establishment
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NPO Number
PBO Number
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The Rape Crisis Cape Town Trust (RCCTT)
Founded 1976 – Trust Registered 1999 - NPO Registered 2005
IT386/99
044-786
930014424
23 Trill Road
Observatory
7925
PO Box 46
Observatory
7935
(021) 447-1467
(021) 447-5458
Kathleen Dey
[email protected]
www.rapecrisis.org.za
rapecrisis.mobi
www.facebook.com/rapecrisiscapetown
@RapeCrisis