Deputy Speaker, Ministers and hon members, the debate that we are engaged in today comes just a few days before the 16 Days of Activism for No Violence against Women and Children campaign, during which we once again focus our energies on spreading the message that violence against women and children cannot be tolerated in any form.
Whilst we spread this message throughout communities across the length and breadth of the country over a 16-day period, we also have to ensure that this message is not emphasised for just 16 days, but that it lasts for 365 days. We've got to ensure that, in our constituency work and wherever we go, we make this message known.
As Members of Parliament, it is also high time that we make our voices heard. In our respective constituencies, we need to speak out against the continued abuse of our women, children and people with disabilities.
During his address of the closing ceremony of the campaign in 2009, President Zuma stated, and I quote:
It should be well known that we are pleased that this government and the past successive ANC administrations have been steadfast in creating an environment conducive to the empowerment of women and children, particularly the girl-child.
This has resulted in progressive legislation that guarantees the promotion and protection of human rights in general, but women's rights in particular. While these measures have generally impacted positively on their lives, we nevertheless acknowledge that a number of challenges still remain. These exist both in implementation as well as in transforming societal attitudes and harmful practices that manifest themselves negatively against women and the girl-child.
The ANC committed itself in its 2009 election manifesto to, and I quote -
... combat violence and crimes against women and children by increasing the capacity of the criminal justice system to deal with such violence.
During June 2010, the South African Police Service commenced with the re- establishment of the Family Violence, Child Protection and Sexual Offences units or, as we call them, the FCSs. These units have been established at a cluster level and are allocated in all 176 clusters around the country. Many of the members that are assigned to these units at cluster level have previous FCS investigative experience and training.
These steps are welcomed, as these units will play an important role in the fight against violence against women and children. What is important though is that these units are well publicised, so that the community knows where to access them and how to contact them. In addition, the SAPS will need to ensure that these units have the necessary resources so that they can perform their duties both effectively and efficiently.
Often, we hear of people who do not come forward to report crimes to the SAPS for fear that community members might find out that they have reported these crimes to the SAPS. We also hear, in instances, that there are people who are not keen to report such crimes because of the manner in which some SAPS members treat them.
The SAPS has a programme called the Victim Empowerment Programme and it provides training to SAPS members on how to provide a victim-friendly service to victims of crime. The SAPS will need to urgently look at how they can roll out this programme and speed up the training of all SAPS members, so that we can ensure that our members at police stations treat victims of crime in a friendly manner and in a manner that will reassure them that they need to come forward and that their problems will be dealt with.
Victim support centres have been established at over 900 police stations around the country. These support centres also enable a victim of abuse to come forward, be interviewed, and have their statement taken in an environment that is safe, friendly and secure. We also want to use this opportunity to call on the SAPS to speed up the roll-out of victim support centres to the remaining police stations where they do not yet exist.
Recently released crime statistics for 2010-11 reveal that the number of rape and sexual assaults continues to rise. According to the Crime Information Analysis Centre, 75% of rapes and 90% of assaults involve victims and perpetrators who know one another. Crimes against women older than 18 have, in the main, decreased whilst murder has increased by 5,6%. Crimes against children younger than 18 years are also decreasing except for the category under all sexual offences which shows a 2,6% increase.
Even though some of these crimes have decreased, the levels of crime still remain way too high in our country. At the same time, we must congratulate the men and women in the SAPS who work tirelessly to ensure that the perpetrators of these crimes are brought to justice. We must also ensure that sufficient resources are available for even greater advances to be made in defeating this scourge.
Whilst we should welcome the decrease in some of these crimes, we cannot sit back. One crime against a woman, a child or a person with a disability is simply one crime too many. According to the International Network on Small Arms, women are three times more likely to die violently if there is a gun in the home. Women are often most vulnerable behind close doors where they can be intimidated, controlled, injured or even murdered through the use of guns.
In South Africa, we have introduced stringent firearm legislation which promotes responsible gun ownership and possession, but we have to be concerned about the manner in which guns are often used against women, children and persons with disabilities. It is said that a gun in a home is more likely to be used against a family member than for providing protection. In this regard, more work needs to be done to look at how to deal with the violence against women, children and persons with disabilities in which guns are used.
Substance abuse also plays a part in some of the crimes committed. And, of concern to me, in particular, is the high number of taverns and shebeens which exist in residential areas, particularly in our informal settlements. Many of these operate throughout the night until the early hours of the morning. This means that people can consume alcohol, get drunk and simply walk back home around the corner. Who knows what then happens behind those closed doors.
There are many contributing factors which lead to violence. These include situations where, for example, a man may have been retrenched and might be stressed. However, no matter what the situation, it's absolutely no excuse for somebody to turn around and resort to violence in any form. The various mechanisms on how to support persons going through stressful times need to be put in place in our communities, but the message has to be loud and clear. No person has the right to abuse another. No man has the right to abuse a woman, a child or a person with disabilities. Men who engage in such activities can't call themselves men.
In my own constituency, we have recently been seeing a rise in violence against women perpetrated by men who do not necessarily agree with these women's viewpoints on certain issues. We have been trying to encourage many of these women to come forward and report these incidents to the police, but many of them are scared. They worry that there will be reprisal attacks against them for having reported the men who abused and assaulted them. We need to get the message out: If you don't come forward, we can't catch these people. The message must go out: Please come forward and report these crimes.
Also of importance is that, as we go forward, we need to ensure that government departments play their role as they are supposed to. As parliamentarians, we also have to ensure that government departments work together and co-ordinate their efforts.
But, government alone can't deal with this issue. It is an issue for our country and therefore it is incumbent upon all of us - whether we are here in this House, whether we are residents in communities - to join hands together with government and, together, stand up, make our voice heard and find solutions on how to deal with particular situations in our community. I thank you very much. [Applause.]