As the Western Cape Parliament debates the topic for the third time in six months, GOOD calls for more action and less talk on Gender-Based Violence.
GOOD delegate, Tessa Hartzenberg, shares horrific account of state indifference to the rape of her mute daughter.
Statement by Brett Herron, Secretary-General of GOOD and Member of Western Cape Provincial Parliament.
21 November 2019
Today the Western Cape Provincial legislature debated issues around Women and Gender-Based Violence issues for the third time in 6 months as it hosted a special ‘Women’s Parliament’ sitting.
GOOD’s Member of the Provincial Legislature, Brett Herron, said that “it is time we stopped talking and started seeing some real action.” He asked “What has this government done during these last six months in office? Or the last ten years and now 6 months?”
At the first debate on GBV and Women, sponsored by the ANC, Herron called on the MEC for Community Safety to conduct an assessment on how complainants were treated by police officers at police stations across the province, specifically when victims of abuse tried to report a complaint of rape, domestic violence or other incidents of gender-based violence.
At that time, Minster Fritz promised to undertake that assessment and to improve the conditions for victims of GBV at Police Stations. Herron repeated that request last week during a further debate in the house. There is still no indication if this work has started, or is indeed ever going to start.
Today, Herron invited Ms. Tessa Hartzenberg from Mitchells Plain to come and speak first-hand to the challenges of reporting rape and violence.
Unfortunately, the rulemakers of the Provincial Parliament initially said she could not speak. Herron said that “Such are the rules of this house – those who know less about the abuse women and children are experiencing will spend the day preaching and mansplaining to real victims.” He was pleased that the Speaker this morning granted his request to allow Tessa to address the house directly for a few minutes.
Tessa’s story is not an easy one and Herron acknowledge her remarkable bravery in speaking openly about her family’s experience. Herron noted that “Tessa Hartzenberg had to fight just to get her complaint recorded. When they went to the police station to report these heinous crimes, they were turned away, because it seems that the Police do not believe that a mute person, the victim, can communicate.”
Hartzenberg explained that “my 34 year old daughter was raped in Mitchells Plain last year. The rapist told her not to tell anyone. She is a mute child – she cannot speak – but she was able to show how she was raped and identify the family member who raped her.”
“He was arrested, but released on just R1,000 bail. The case was postponed and eventually the prosecutor said there was not enough evidence, even though my daughter had identified the rapist and shown social workers what had happened.”
Hartzenberg asked “Who is going to fight for the children and others out there who cannot fight for themselves? Who is talking for those who have no voice?” Hartzenberg said “these things are happening every day, but what can a person do to see that justice is done for those who cannot fight or talk for themselves. Lots of rapists are walking free, with boldness. How can government fail our kids, our women, like this?”
Hartzenberg pleaded, wanting to know why her daughter was not allowed to identify her rapist in court.
Herron reminded the Parliament that this is just one case and there are far too many others. Every night, across this province, women and children must navigate their way through dark alleys of informal settlements to use shared toilets.
Here, they are attacked and raped. In the ten years the DA have been in power, the proportion of households without toilets has almost doubled. Now almost 1 in 20 families in this province rely on shared toilets.
That means more and more people are forced out in the dark each night. These are dark, unsafe places that even the police refuse to patrol.
Despite what has happened to her family, Tessa Hartzenberg is out in her community trying to help those who need and want it, working through the NGO Mothers Touching Lives. But Herron reminded Parliament that NGOs cannot do this alone, saying that “there are simply not enough facilities for those wanting to get off drugs, not enough shelters for the victims of abuse.”
Herron appealed for the government to invest much more to address the underlying causes of crime and violence.
Herron and Hartzenberg joined in the calls from dozens of other invited NGO representatives calling for more shelters and much more investment in social support programmes.
Herron said he was “pleased that the Province’s draft safety plan has moved away from the DA’s focus on policing alone, and instead now incorporated GOOD’s policy which has been calling for more effective policing to be combined with more extensive social services. Internationally, this approach is proven to reduce crime.”
Ends