Madam Deputy Speaker and hon members, randomly selected real-life experiences of victims of harassment recorded by the South African Law Reform Commission reveal silent and heavy-breathing phone calls every hour throughout the night; up to 300 abusive phone calls and text messages a day; a funeral parlour arriving to collect a prominent doctor's supposed dead body from his house during his daughter's wedding celebration; and someone gaining undetected entry into a woman's home, moving her furniture and leaving glass shards in the food in her refrigerator.
Stalking and stalkers who thrive on it need to be taken seriously. Stalkers are, by their very nature, obsessive and often very dangerous. Growing every day, stalking is also prevalent as a precursor to many other violent crimes, with most of the victims being women and children.
In October 2009, a stalker gained access to e.tv journalist Shadi Rapitso's house. When she rejected his declaration of love for her, he kidnapped her and fatally stabbed her in the neck. Her shocking murder alerts us to the fatal consequences of stalking.
Three rights contained in the Bill of Rights are particularly relevant to the Bill we are debating today. These are: section 10 of the Constitution, which refers to the right of all citizens to have their dignity and rights respected and protected; section 12, which gives citizens their freedom and security of the person, including their right to be free from all forms of violence; and section 14, which gives every citizen the right to privacy.
The Bill also gives effect to section 7 of the Bill of Rights, which is a cornerstone of our democracy. This section enshrines the rights of all our people by affirming the democratic values of human dignity, equality and freedom. In terms of this section, the state is enjoined to respect, protect, promote and fulfil the rights contained in the Bill of Rights. To deal with the concerns of media freedom, the Bill is also crafted in a manner that ensures that it does not affect the reasonable activities of investigative journalists who may, in the course of their duties, be accused of harassment.
This Bill is intended to address stalking by means of a quick, easy and affordable civil remedy in the form of a protection order. These provisions are not entirely new on our Statute Book. Hon members will notice that many of the provisions in the Bill have resonance with the Domestic Violence Act of 1998. The current Bill deals with stalking when the stalker and the victim are not in a relationship, while the Domestic Violence Act deals with transgressions where the two are in a relationship.
In terms of this Bill, the harm caused is not limited to physical harm but is defined to include any mental, psychological or even economic harm. Unreasonableness forms the basis of stalking behaviour and the courts will have to consider each allegation of harassment on a case-by-case basis.
A victim of harassment may apply for a protection order against harassment at a magistrate's court that is a designated district court. To increase access, an application for a protection order may also be brought outside ordinary court hours if the court is satisfied that the complainant may suffer harm if the matter is not dealt with expeditiously.
If the victim hands an affidavit to a member of the South African Police Service proving that the stalker has broken any term or condition contained in the order, the police official has discretion either to arrest the respondent or to issue him or her a notice to appear in court on a date specified in the notice to face criminal charges of contravening a protection order.
Public hearings conducted by the portfolio committee led to many important insertions which enhance the Bill's effectiveness. The last insertion in the Bill relates to concerns raised by the media during the public hearings, as I have already indicated. The view was expressed that the Bill might have unintended consequences and impact negatively on press freedom, particularly in the case of the investigative journalist. That is why the portfolio committee inserted the amendment. We are of the view that the compromise that has been made has found its way into the Bill in the form of factors to be considered by the courts, which constitutes an acceptable balance.
With those few words I plead for this House to accept this Bill. [Applause.]