The following speech was delivered in Parliament today by the DA’s Shadow Deputy Minister of Police, Marius Redelinghuys MP, during the Budget Vote on Police and Independent Police Investigative Directorate.
Chairperson,
Last year I spoke about the war on women, the war on LGBTI, the war on the independence of state institutions, and the war raging in rural communities across this country.
It is beyond frustrating to stand here again today to address these very same issues, and to observe how little, if anything, has changed.
For the benefit of the new Minister, I will repeat the suggestions I made to his ill-fated predecessor:
“We must have specific, separate data on sexual and gender-based crimes, crimes against queer persons and farm attacks and murders.”
In March, after years of DA and civil society pleas, we finally got disaggregated sexual offences statistics following my request for it captured in the September mid-term budget Committee report.
I also said that “effectively trained police must ensure that these crimes are promptly and thoroughly investigated and that perpetrators are brought to justice. Survivors must have access to full reparation and means of protection.”
And finally, I said “the Rural Safety Strategy does not lead to actual, specialist boots on the ground” and reiterated “our call for adequately trained, equipped and capacitated specialised Rural Reaction Units.”
I hope that the new Minister will embrace the bona fide proposals of the opposition as eagerly as he fires away on Twitter.
But, as being able to get disaggregated statistics on sexual offences showed, Parliament can get things done without – and often in spite of – the whims, wishes and excuses of the executive.
Thus, turning to the war on the independence of the Independent Police Investigative Directorate (IPID) and the Hawks, I urge the Committee to initiate proceedings amending both Acts to bring them in line with the Constitution.
We have watched with disbelief the public spat between IPID and the South African Police Service (SAPS), and the on-going Hawks saga.
In this, I advise the Acting National Commissioner to let the investigation run its course and refrain from attacking IPID’s very existence, lest somebody seeks a declaratory order for him violating the Constitution. Findings and alleged procedural irregularities can be taken on judicial review if he is unhappy.
I am pleased that the Minister has taken a hard-line approach on Berning Ntlemeza, but it is not enough.
The Constitutional Court set clear deadlines for Parliament, not the executive, to remedy the legislative defects.
The Committee should fix this as speedily as the Justice Portfolio Committee fixed the Sexual Offences Act in the previous Parliament after a Western Cape High Court judgement.
Lastly, Chairperson, on the “war on women” we are, unfortunately, in what Lisa Vetten describes as cycles of outrage followed by amnesia and inaction.
Sadly, after making the headlines, Karabo Mokoena, Bukelwa Moerane, Lerato Moloi, Jeannette Cindi and the countless other names become mere statistics debated in hearings like this; footnotes to the real horror story South African women face on a daily basis.
So, what is to be done?
We, as MPs, must debate and engage with the failures of this government to meaningfully address violence against women in Parliament.
In addition to what my colleague said, we must also heed civil society’s calls and pioneer a budgeted national strategic plan on gender-based violence, aligning government and societal efforts around clear strategic priorities, timeframes and resources, and create an inescapable accountability mechanism.
Police must also heed the pleas of thousands of women when they say this bridge, or that park, or that corner is not safe. Turning a woman away when reporting a domestic violence case should be a dismissible offence. Make an example of police officers who do this.
Ending the war on women goes beyond just public and private sector programmes. We must change deep-seated, often dearly held, attitudes. Each one of us, men specifically, must take ownership of and tackle our own attitudes that enable or encourage toxic, deadly masculinity.
My fellow man, if you’ve laughed at, or even sheepishly smiled at, a sexist joke without calling such rubbish out, you have enabled, if not encouraged, the men you warn your daughters and sisters about.
We demand that the Minister brings Parliament the plans he and the department have to seriously address this scourge.
Changing attitudes of men is the first step, but the SAPS must desist from continuing to ignore the serious violence women face each day.