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South Africa Health Department criticised over domestic violence response

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Libby Ruffle
WVoN co-editor

South Africa’s Department of Health has been accused by the Democratic Alliance party of failing to adequately assist a parliamentary committee on domestic violence.

The Director-General of the Department of Health failed to attend Wednesday’s meeting with the Portfolio Committee on Women, Children and People with Disabilities.

Other department officials arrived 40 minutes late, without relevant documentation or a mandate to present information. The meeting was cancelled.

South African women face one of the highest levels of domestic violence globally. The Medical Research Council has estimated that there are half a million rapes in the country every year.

But Department of Health officials have failed to make important documents available to the committee, and have previously left correspondence about the Domestic Violence Act unacknowledged.

Civil society groups have criticised the system for failing to bring perpetrators of sexual violence to justice.

They say the Department of Health database of domestic violence cases is poorly maintained, meaning there is no way of identifying domestic violence trends which are needed to inform future policy.

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