The South African justice system should do more to protect women who are the main victims of gender-based violence and discriminatory laws in the country, a senior official has said.
Speaking during a panel discussion at the Family Law Dialogue in Johannesburg on Saturday, Women, Youth and Persons with Disabilities Deputy Minister Hlengiwe Mkhize said the criminal justice system was a very important and powerful tool that society should utilise to tackle some of the problems that women continue to grapple with in South Africa.
She said access to justice “seems to be a big issue for women across all segments of society.”
“South Africa is rated among the highest in the world, in terms of inequality and lack of safety, for women. Our call is to say we can do better and we have to do better for the majority that is marginalised on a daily basis,” Mkhize said.
The deputy minister said the country should ask itself how, despite having one of the best constitutions in the world, women still struggled to have access to justice.
“We have come up with a number of legislations which are undermined by our own frontline service providers in the system. You go to a police station to report violence against you and the police are ‘surprised’ that you are reporting the husband’s abuse to you to them.
“As a result, the case doesn’t take off, even though legislatively, you are protected from such abuses. Those are some of the big issues that we need to look at,” the official said
The dialogue was held as the country wrapped up Women’s Month which is commemorated in August each year. During the period, the Ministry of Women, Youth and Persons with Disabilities had various engagements.
Among these was a dialogue with the LGBTQI+ community as well as a Women’s Parliament, which this year focused on gender-based violence and femicide.
NM/jn/APA