Batohi says harsher sentences for GBV and sex offenders yet to yield results
Two years ago, President Cyril Ramaphosa signed three pieces of legislation into law, aimed at bolstering the fight against gender-based violence.
Thuthuzela Care Centre for rape and sexual assault survivors. Picture: USAID Southern Africa
CAPE TOWN - The National Director of Public Prosecutions Shamila Batohi said that introducing harsher sentences for gender-based violence and sex offenders has not yet had the effect of reducing these crimes.
Two years ago, President Cyril Ramaphosa signed three pieces of legislation into law, aimed at bolstering the fight against gender-based violence.
On Monday, the National Prosecuting Authority (NPA) opened its 65th Thuthuzela Care Centre at the Mitchells Plain Hospital in Cape Town, where some of the country’s highest rape and femicide rates are recorded.
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The Thuthuzela Care Centres are meant to reduce secondary victimisation, increase the conviction rate, and reduce the trial length of GBV cases through pretrial services, psychosocial, medical and legal services to the victims.
The number of these centres has grown from 55 in 2021 to the 65 on Monday.
Since harsher sentences became effective for GBV offenders in 2022, until December last year, 337 life sentences have been handed down, 236 sentences of between 20 and 25 years, and 634 sentences of 10 to 15 years in imprisonment.
But Batohi said it’s not having the desired impact.
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"The reality is notwithstanding the fact that the courts are increasingly imposing higher sentences it’s not having an impact on the scourge," said Batohi.
Deputy Justice Minister Andries Nel notes that Mitchells Plain police station ranks highest among the country’s top thirty for common assault and drug-related crimes.
"The reality is, that there’s a social and an economic foundation to these problems, which we are not going to solve without a broader social-economic transformation of our country and our communities," Nel said.
Nel and Batohi both said community intervention will be needed to stem the scourge.