Challenges inherent in the justice system

As Superintendent Andre Neethling told filmmaker Cathy Henkel, "I think it’s important for us, as the authorities, to realise how angry people do actually get and, at the end of the day, we work for the people so we must listen to them."

Lisa Vetten, who is manager of the Gender Unit at the Centre for the Study of Violence and Reconciliation in South Africa adds, "The challenge is to step beyond symbolic actions and into concrete things that change lives and behaviour, like putting money into the criminal justice system so that sufficient trained, committed people are employed, who can do their job properly."

And, as journalist and rape survivor Charlene Smith points out: "If you want the person to go to jail, you have to prepare yourself for an unbelievably traumatic fight. You have to fight and fight and fight. You get frustrated about the fact that you’re fighting with everyone. You have to fight with the police, you have to fight with the prosecutors, you have to fight with the medical officers, you have to fight with every single person, and in the end, for me, this was the worst thing that happened to me and, if I wanted justice, I had to fight; if I wanted him to stop doing it to another woman, I had to fight, but it’s a difficult process. It’s a difficult process and you often want to give up because it’s very traumatic."

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