Social Development

Response from Programme Social Crime Prevention:

[a]  The programmes for child sexual offenders are “In the Mirror” [14 -17 years]/ “I am me” [12- 14 years]:

• These programmes contribute to the eradication of gender-based violence by addressing factors such as poor social skills and a lack of empathy which can lead to gender-based and other related offending. The programmes also involve problem-solving, creative thinking, social perspective taking, moral reasoning, social skills, and critical thinking to help the perpetrators control their criminogenic needs.

         The adult programmes for GBV offenders and victims are:

• Restorative Group Conferencing [RGC], Victim Offender Mediation [VOM] and Family Group Conferencing: a mediated intervention, consisting of individual assessment, psycho-social counselling (individual and joint), and after-care support.

         The SHINE Victim Empowerment Programme:

• This is a post-traumatic growth and empowerment programme for female victims who were emotionally and/or physically abused. In addition, victims are seen individually focussing on post trauma intervention, conducted as group and individual sessions.
• Silence the Violence Programme and the Programme for Perpetrators of Intimate Partners.
• Violence [PPIPV]: are intensive specialised programmes, based on cognitive-behaviour modification principles to equip the participant with the tools to understand and manage violent behaviour.

         Substance Abuse:

• Provide psycho-social-emotional education around substance us and the consequences of their behaviour and referrals for more long-term and intensive treatment options Parental prevention and support workshops on GBV. 

[ii] budgeting of her Department to address [aa] rape, [bb] sexual assault and [cc] the abuse of women and children in the province in:

         [aaa] 2019: R 14 181 000

         [bbb] 2020: R 14 428 300

         [ccc] 2021: R 14 428 300

         [ddd] 2022: R 13 002 000

         The above budget amounts are not disaggregated but includes programmes to address rape, sexual assault, the abuse of women and children in the Province.

[b] The above budget amounts are not disaggregated but includes programmes to address rape, sexual assault, the abuse of women and children in Kraaifontein, Mfuleni, Delft, Harare and Gugulethu.

The Department of Social Development’s service delivery areas and regional offices are instrumental and give effect to the social crime prevention interventions as identified by the stakeholders on any of the three levels of prevention, namely:

• Primary Prevention Programmes which refer to awareness, educational and information sessions.
• Secondary prevention Programmes which refer to safety aspects that target situations where people or neighborhoods are particularly at risk. Services delivered at this level make use of developmental and therapeutic programmes to ensure that children who have been identified as being at risk are assisted before they require statutory services, which are more intensive.
• Tertiary prevention Programmes which refer to strategies that prevent recidivism by assisting with the social reintegration of offenders and other preventive mechanisms (reintegration programmes).

All of the above crime prevention and support programmes are rendered with a specific focus on the provincial crime hotspots [including rural] areas. This is to increase beneficiaries’ resilience to crime and strengthen a collaborative approach with other government Departments [Area-Based Teams].

Target groups are children, youth in primary and high schools and their families.

Response by Programme Victim Empowerment:

The Department of Social Development’s Victim Empowerment Programme [VEP] provides a basket of services to victims of crime, including victims of sexual offences. Services include provision of:

• Crisis containment service at the 7 Thuthuzela Care centres. A 24 hour, 7 days a week service.
• Shelter services for women and their children in need of a safe space
• Therapeutic support provided by social workers at shelters, various funded VEP service organisations and Department service points throughout the province
• Trauma support groups to direct victims and their family
• Court support services to provide emotional and practical support to victims through the legal proceedings
• Educational GBV workshops in high-risk communities to highlight services that are available

         We do not have a breakdown of expenditure for the 30 SAPS station, but the overall budget for the VEP services were as follows:

 

Financial year	2019/2020	2020/2021	2021/2022	2022/2023
Budget	R 50 472 mil	R 63 860 mil	R 62 008 mil	R 62 866 mil