Gender Advocacy Programme (GAP)
GENDER ADVOCACY PROGRAMME

SUBMISSION ON THE DOMESTIC VIOLENCE BILL
11 AUGUST 1998


Introduction:
The Gender Advocacy Programme commends the Ministry of Justice, and the SA Law Commission Project Committee in particular for the tabling and completion of the Domestic Violence Bill. We are also thankful for the opportunity to make submissions on this Bill. Although the Domestic Violence Bill is an extremely progressive document, there are a few concerns we wish to raise.

Clause 1:
The Gender Advocacy Programme believes that the definition on domestic violence in section 1 (vii) is fairly extensive and inclusive. The definition, however, should also include that a single act may amount to domestic violence and that a single act , no matter how trivial, when part of a pattern of conduct may similarly amount to domestic violence. We are aware of the fact that this recognition is made in section 6.8, but we strongly believe that it should be included in the definition on domestic violence.

Clause 2:
In relation to Section 2 [Duty to inform victim and applicant of rights:], GAP believes that provision 2 (1).a. is a very significant one. In order to ensure that the obligations on the police and judiciary encourages and ensures a more effective service to victims and survivors of domestic violence, GAP recommends that this obligation is translated into a formal requirement for training of all members within the criminal justice system. In addition to this, we recommend that a monitoring and evaluation mechanism is set up within the SAPS to give effect to this provision.

GAP recommends that there should be preliminary costing to ensure that copies of the explanation on 2.1.a. are available to victims in the major languages of the local area of jurisdiction and / or that of the provinces, as well as the eleven national languages. Whilst we are not oblivious to the scale of illiteracy amongst the majority of South African women, we believe that there would be at least one person in a household, extended family or neighbourhood that will be able to read the explanation included in clause 2.1 (a) to the victim / survivor. Therefore, the recommended costing will give effect to provision 2 (b) and will ensure that access to justice is extended.

Clause 4:
We view provision 4.6 as an extremely significant step from the Department of Justice in extending access to justice. However, it will be important for these procedures to be spelt out so that both the police and judicial officers are clear about what is expected of them.

Clause 8:
In relation to the service of documents (section 8), GAP once again recommends that there is preliminary costing to give effect to this provision.

Clause 11:
The Gender Advocacy Programme commends the project committee of the SA Law Commission for the inclusion of clause 11, (subsections 3 and 4 in particular), which excludes the mandatory discretion of both the police and judicial officers. We firmly believe that this provision will alleviate many of the problems which victims and survivors have encountered with the police and judicial officers who often exercise discretion based on their own biases. We are of the opinion that this provision does not violate the constitution in any way, since it is subject to the limitation clause of the constitution. (section 36 of the SA Constitution)

Conclusion
In conclusion, the Gender Advocacy Programme, once again commends the SA Law Commission Project Committee for an extremely comprehensive Domestic Violence Bill. Our concerns, however, are mainly related to issues of implementation, and to the costing for application, in particular. In order to ensure that the Domestic Violence Act is effectively implemented, we believe that monitoring and evaluation mechanisms must be put in place to oversee how the act is being implemented and to make subsequent recommendations based on this.