South Africa

This document sets out the regulations that pertain to the Domestic Violence Act 116, passed into law in december 1998. The regulations set out the roles of those responsible for implementing the Act, and include forms relating to the Act.

The Domestic Violence Act provides for the issuing of Protection Orders with regard to domestic violence.

This study aimed to monitor similarities and differences in the implementation of the Domestic Violence Act (DVA) (no. 116 of 1998) in two different geographical settings in Gauteng, South Africa (Alberton and Temba court), and to compare these findings with data from the previous Prevention of Family Violence Act (PFVA) (no 133 of 1993).

This study - conducted with adolescent girls between the ages 13 - 17 - suggests that efforts to address gender based violence against girls are not a priority. Findings from 17 focus group discussions with adolescent girls at nine Gauteng schools suggest that minimal to no intervention efforts are underway at schools or in communities; participants appeared frustrated and despondent at the lack of services available to them. This lack of services is startling in light of findings from this study which highlights a disturbing prevalence of sexual harassment at school as well as an alarmingly high incidence of physical and sexual violence in the lives of adolescent girls.

While some studies have investigated aspects of the implementation of the Domestic Violence Act (DVA), there has been little documented exploration of the interaction between culture and tradition and women's recourse to the DVA. Certainly there are studies examining community perceptions of domestic violence but these have not explored how relationship status also mediates the nature of assistance available to women seeking help with domestic violence. These are important key omissions, that this study attempts to address. It explores how, in one district, men and women are embedded in a range of community beliefs and practices that shape not only responses to domestic violence, but also the nature of assistance provided. This context not only affects when, how and which women use the Act, but also highlights how a variety of institutions mediate women's access to the criminal justice system.

Do women's previous experiences of violence or abuse play a role in their unlawful acts? What conditions exist in women's prisons, and do incarcerated women's experiences of violence create violent women's prisons? This research brief presents findings from a study conducted in three women's prisons in Gauteng, South Africa, exploring these two questions. It briefly describes the nature and extent of violence experienced by women and girls in conflict with the law, both prior to as well as during incarceration; and the relationship between such experiences of violence and the commission of unlawful acts. Both sets of questions are important for the prevention of women's offending, as well as the informed sentencing and management of female offenders.

"I used to see it in prison. Others were raped, but it never happened to me," said a convicted fraudster who spent seven years in jail, most of them at Cape Town's notorious Pollsmoor Prison. His claim about his own treatment is improbable. Experts and ex-prisoners say the young, the good-looking, homosexuals, the weak and those convicted of white-collar or "sissy" crimes are most vulnerable to male rape in South Africa's prisons. Such is the secretive nature of male rape that survivors view it through the lens of denial and avoidance. And an ill-equipped criminal justice system remains unwilling to admit, let alone tackle, its pervasiveness.

This report discusses the trends and patterns of funding for organisations in South Africa that
address gender-based violence. This report is the result of the efforts of a number of people. Julia
Kuhn wrote the literature review, analysed the data from twenty-nine CSO questionnaires and
twelve CSO interviews and wrote up these findings, and conducted seven interviews with donors.
Debbie Budlender of Community Agency for Social Enquiry analysed the data from twelve
interviews with donors and wrote up these findings. The recommendations were compiled by Julia
Kuhn and the Centre for the Study of Violence and Reconciliation.

This report, By Human Rights Watch, briefly examines policy initiatives and the proposals for reform that have been made by the new government in its review of health services. The reform proposals aim to rectify some of the most glaring problems with the current medico-legal system, including problems of access, but they also risk placing too heavy an emphasis on accessibility at the expense of providing a high-quality service in this very technical area. Within the constraints placed by the many demands on the government's budget for reconstruction and development, the aim must be to raise the standards of the services currently offered, as well as to extend that service to all parts of the population.

Researchers at the Meraka Institute of the Council for Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR) have released an educational spelling game available free of charge in all 11 official South African languages.   

The game, called OpenSpell, was the inspiration of researcher and linguist, Dr Madelaine Plauché and open source software developer Richard Carlson.