Chairperson, thank you Deputy Minister for your response. Deputy Minister, there are cases of women and children where when they go to police stations to report cases of rape and abuse, there are times where they are turned away or even subjected to humiliating processes. My question is, has government put in place processes to deal decisively with such cases? Thank you.
The DEPUTY MINISTER IN THE PRESIDENCY FOR WOMEN, YOUTH AND PERSONS
WITH DISABILITIES: Chairperson and hon members, I think the President's call for police to review all cases that didn't end up being presented to the courts is a realisation that a lot have been going wrong. The police are in the process of checking all reported cases that are depriving us of real statistics. So far the statistics we get maybe be 80% of the cases. We then work on the basis of 80% and the 20% disappears completely. So the call by the President has helped a lot for police stations to account for each and every reported case as to what happened and what didn't work.
But I must say that when it comes to this kind of work since we have started moving around especially in rural areas, we are learning more about it. In terms of our legislation the doctor has to examine the child. In some instances even doctors don't want to do it because they don't want to go to court one day to defend the case.
Those are some of the barriers in our system. You also here that young people spend six to nine hours waiting to be attended. I am talking about the nine-year-olds where they go to the centres and the centres are not ready to attend them. But in terms of the clarion call that we are on as the whole arm of government we hope that if they are reported there will be consequence management for such officials if people are found to have been refused assistance especially the young victims.
In terms of our legislation the burden of proof is still on a victim rather than the perpetrator having to prove his innocence. We don't know what will ultimately happen with the review of our legislation. But definitely you have seen recently where even young children are expected to testify in the court of law. The risks are big because of trauma and they could be confused by procedures. All these are things that we are looking at in co- operation with the Minister of Justice - looking at different approaches to these cases and without compromising the legalities but assisting younger victims in particular without putting them under pressure which might end up benefiting the perpetrators.