Nondumiso Mbuyazi
20 December 2008
Although the 16 Days of Activism for No Violence Against Women and Children campaign ended last week, there is still confusion about what a rape survivor should do after the traumatic ordeal.
While police say survivors should first report the incident and get a case number, women's activist groups and NGOs are adamant that the first thing they should do is to check into a health facility.
With no law that stipulates what a rape victim should do, police and NGOs are at loggerheads on the correct procedure.
Although police spokesperson Superintendent Vincent Mdunge said each case varies, he was quick to highlight the importance of reporting the incident to the nearest police station first.
"There are no hard and fast rules on what a rape victim should do, but the most important thing is to open a case first.
"That said, this does not stop them from going for a medical check-up immediately," he added.
Rape activist and survivor Charlene Smith said she disagreed with Mdunge and was "totally against" rape survivors reporting the incident first.
Smith said the first thing a survivor should do was go to the nearest clinic or hospital.
"A survivor should never, ever, ever go to the police first. The only choice for her is to head straight to a health facility. Then, if she wants to open a case, she can go to the police.
"But what are the chances of the case being properly investigated?" she said.
With only 1 percent of rape cases resulting in conviction, Smith said a survivor should put her best interests first.
Smith said it was imperative that a survivor received antiretroviral or post-exposure prophylaxis (PEP) within 72 hours of the rape or attempted rape.
She said the sooner a survivor got PEP, the better, and the police could take statements after that.
If taken correctly, PEP is 80 percent effective in preventing an infection from developing.
Durban's senior prosecutor, Nonhlanhla Dlamini, agreed with Mdunge. She said it was standard procedure that a survivor report the rape before seeking treatment at a hospital.
However, she acknowledged that for various reasons, rape survivors often did not report the crime.
"Often survivors think they will be harassed by male policemen; we find they would much rather deal with a female police officer," she said.
However, Dlamini said that although there was a perception that policemen were not compassionate, they could not all be labelled apathetic.
"There are some good male officers around," she said.
The problem of rape survivors not reporting their ordeal was further exacerbated by the scarcity of district surgeons, particularly women.
"Rape survivors often prefer to be examined by a female district surgeon, but because of the shortage, rape survivors might have to be examined by a male district surgeon so that they can get all the medical attention within a certain time frame," Mdunge said.
District surgeons are based at certain government hospitals and also work from private clinics.
"There are no district surgeons at police stations. Once the rape victim has opened a case, the police will take her to a district surgeon."
Rape survivor Jessica Foord said that although being raped was terrible, the process afterwards was awful too. She claimed the district surgeon was "rude and rough".
However, Foord said she understood what district surgeons had to deal with daily.
"In a year, each district surgeon has about 38 000 cases. For their own sanity, I think they try not to be too emotionally attached," she said.
Foord has started a support organisation for rape survivors. Powar (Protect Our Women Against Rape) aims to improve the way post-rape examinations and police interrogation are conducted.
Powar intends to build a centre for rape survivors where statements, examinations and other processes can be carried out in one place.
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