IT HAS taken 15 months for the state to respond positively to an order by Public Protector Thuli Madonsela to apologise in writing and to compensate a rape victim whose case had taken nine years to finalise.
Madonsela launched an investigation into the case after Sowetan reported in 2008 that the woman's mother was complaining that eight years after her daughter was raped, the case had still not been finalised.
The woman, who was 14 at the time, was raped by two men from her village in Malebitsa in the Moutse area of Limpopo.
She reported the incident to police and the men were arrested but released on bail.
Three years later, she was still waiting for justice. Then she was told the case had been withdrawn because of a lack of evidence.
The case was reinstated after the victim's mother challenged the police decision. But her woes continued - with the case being postponed for a record 48 times.
After being approached by her family, Sowetan took up the matter in 2008.
A year later her neighbours, Masuku Hendrick Matlanato and Johannes Skhosana, were sentenced to 15 years in jail each in the Groblersdal Magistrate's Court after they were found guilty of gang-raping the woman.
Madonsela found that the police, the National Prosecuting Authority and the Justice Department were guilty of maladministration in the way they handled the case.
The Department of Justice also apologised to the victim's mother as well as Madonsela for the delay. But the department said it cannot compensate the woman for the trauma she had endured as a result of this delay because no crime had been committed against her.
The department's director- general (DG), Nonkululeko Sindane, said while they consider the delay unfortunate, they were only ready to apologise.
"The department considers it a challenge to comply with recommendations of the report, which requires the compensation of the victim," Sindane wrote in the letter addressed to Madonsela.
"In essence, the right to compensate, as espoused by the Victim's Charter, expressly focuses on loss or damage to property suffered by the victim as a result of crime committed against her."
Sindane said her department was, however, ready to compensate the victim and her mother for expenses for travelling and witnesses.
She also expressed her displeasure in the manner in which the matter "played itself out in the media".
"The situation could have been handled differently, but we have drawn important lessons out of this," she said.
In her apology to the victim, the DG also acknowledged, as a further violation of the Victim's Charter, "the failure by our court officials to update you regularly on the progress of the case during trial".
"It is, however, worth noting that issues of this nature are being considered in the current review of the five-year Victim's Charter Implementation Plan to ensure that this charter becomes a living document for all victims of crime," she said.
Rape victim gets an apology at last
IT HAS taken 15 months for the state to respond positively to an order by Public Protector Thuli Madonsela to apologise in writing and to compensate a rape victim whose case had taken nine years to finalise.
Madonsela launched an investigation into the case after Sowetan reported in 2008 that the woman's mother was complaining that eight years after her daughter was raped, the case had still not been finalised.
The woman, who was 14 at the time, was raped by two men from her village in Malebitsa in the Moutse area of Limpopo.
She reported the incident to police and the men were arrested but released on bail.
Three years later, she was still waiting for justice. Then she was told the case had been withdrawn because of a lack of evidence.
The case was reinstated after the victim's mother challenged the police decision. But her woes continued - with the case being postponed for a record 48 times.
After being approached by her family, Sowetan took up the matter in 2008.
A year later her neighbours, Masuku Hendrick Matlanato and Johannes Skhosana, were sentenced to 15 years in jail each in the Groblersdal Magistrate's Court after they were found guilty of gang-raping the woman.
Madonsela found that the police, the National Prosecuting Authority and the Justice Department were guilty of maladministration in the way they handled the case.
The Department of Justice also apologised to the victim's mother as well as Madonsela for the delay. But the department said it cannot compensate the woman for the trauma she had endured as a result of this delay because no crime had been committed against her.
The department's director- general (DG), Nonkululeko Sindane, said while they consider the delay unfortunate, they were only ready to apologise.
"The department considers it a challenge to comply with recommendations of the report, which requires the compensation of the victim," Sindane wrote in the letter addressed to Madonsela.
"In essence, the right to compensate, as espoused by the Victim's Charter, expressly focuses on loss or damage to property suffered by the victim as a result of crime committed against her."
Sindane said her department was, however, ready to compensate the victim and her mother for expenses for travelling and witnesses.
She also expressed her displeasure in the manner in which the matter "played itself out in the media".
"The situation could have been handled differently, but we have drawn important lessons out of this," she said.
In her apology to the victim, the DG also acknowledged, as a further violation of the Victim's Charter, "the failure by our court officials to update you regularly on the progress of the case during trial".
"It is, however, worth noting that issues of this nature are being considered in the current review of the five-year Victim's Charter Implementation Plan to ensure that this charter becomes a living document for all victims of crime," she said.
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