According to the statistics collected by the Thohoyandou Victim Empowerment Programme (TVEP), in the past year, a total of 468 cases of rape and sexual assault were reported to their trauma centres.

“The SAPS may try to dispute these figures, but we keep a record of the case numbers together with the name of the victim, so they cannot deny they exist” claimed the TVEP Programme Director, Ms Fiona Nicholson. She explained that, at the trauma centres, which are open all day, every day, they take a photocopy of the medico-legal documents completed by the doctor, as well as the skeleton docket opened by the police. These are retained for the victim’s protection, so that, if a docket goes missing, the case can still proceed.

Although there is no noticeable decrease in rape statistics during the “16 days”, Nicholson maintains that the focus on gender and child violence during this period is still very valuable, as it forces people to confront the issues. “What is needed in our area is the revival of traditional values such as Ubuntu. If more people adopted the concept of ‘your child is my child’, far fewer children would have been raped”, she said.

A big challenge for TVEP is the tolerance that many people still have towards crimes against women and children. Also, the fact that so few victims fight back, scream or cause a commotion.

Recently, a woman was woken late at night by a known criminal who had broken into her house. In front of her husband and brother-in-law, he pulled her from the house, took her to his own home and raped her. The man was not armed, but neither the husband nor his brother made any effort to save her or even to call for help. Although this is one of the worst cases, it reflects a common trend. Many young women, for example, are abducted from public places like taxi ranks, and forced to accompany a man to nearby bushes where they are raped. “What is the community doing whilst this is happening?” Nicholson asks.

“Surely, if you see she is not willing to accompany the man, you can at least ask if she needs help? Isn’t this the spirit of Ubuntu?” Nicholson estimates that at least half of all rapes reported to the trauma centres could have been averted – if the child or woman had resisted and screamed, and if the neighbours or passersby had responded as good citizens should”.

Nicholson pointed out that most stakeholders have joined hands to fight the scourge of gender and child violence together. TVEP generally has a very good working relationship with the hospitals, SAPS, and the Sexual Offences Court, as they are all on the same side, facing the same challenges. “Social Development is the exception, however, as to all intents and purposes they have totally abdicated their responsibilities towards victims. Instead, they expect the non-profit sector to do their job for them, without funding, without assistance, and without recognition.

According to Nicholson, the Department is hopelessly understaffed and under-capacitated. “They told us that they were unable to fund the NGO sector, or even provide food parcels for the last six months of the year, because their budget was depleted. According to their own Annual Report, however, the Limpopo Department of Social Development “rolled over” millions last year, of which R8 million was intended for the non-profit sector”.

Since TVEP started to provide victim services in September 2001, less than 2% of their budget has come from the State. Equally disturbing is the fact that the little money that they have been given, was simply “dropped” into their account, without a contract being signed, and without their being told which project the funds were for. “We have never even been asked to account for how the money was spent. Fortunately, we have strong financial controls and auditors, but what about other organisations who are getting funds in the same way, but lack our resources?”