The Mitchell's Plain Magistrate's Court has opened a second dedicated gender-based violence courtroom. The court also marked the first anniversary of its District GBV Court and witness waiting room in January. Pictured here standing from left are, Samuel Maku, chief magistrate, Shafiekah Davids, Mitchell's Plain court manager, Laura Baartman, deputy director of court preparation and Darrin Johnson, senior public prosecutor. Seated in front from left are Zine Bandla, court preparation officer and Nandy Moodley, acting chief prosecutor.
Image: Alicia English
The Mitchell's Plain Magistrate's Court opened a second dedicated gender-based violence (GBV) courtroom earlier this month to reduce the waiting time for GBV and domestic violence-related cases to be heard.
According to its chief magistrate, Samuel Maku, who joined the Mitchell's Plain Magistrate's Court last year, some GBV or domestic violence (DV) cases previously had waiting times of three months to up to one year.
"I realised so many times applicants and respondents come to court, saying that my case has been postponed again for three to four months," he said, citing an example of a domestic violence matter being postponed for a year.
"We have created a space for a second domestic violence court to expedite the turnaround times for all those DV matters, including maintenance cases. Instead of postponing a case until May, we can now send it to the other court, and get a date within four weeks’ time," Mr Maku said.
January 2025 marked the first anniversary of the launch of the District GBV Court and court preparation witness waiting room in Mitchell's Plain.
According to Laura Baartman, deputy director of court preparation in the National Prosecuting Authority's sexual offences and community affairs unit, the court preparation officer, Zine Bandla assisted 454 victims and witnesses of gender-based and domestic violence in the room from January to December 2024.
"The NPA and all the stakeholders of this programme want the community of Mitchell’s Plain to know that we are aware that the court system can be a very scary and intimidating process but the services available at the court are provided by professional staff who are there to assist and act in the interest of all GBV and DV complainants.
"The purpose of the witness waiting room is to provide victims of gender-based domestic violence related violations with a safe environment to wait where they could feel free of intimidation from the accused and the accused family members," she explained.
Ms Baartman said the Mitchell's Plain District GBV Court witness waiting room is the first of its kind countrywide. "No other district court has one. It's mainly in the sexual offences court where there's a waiting room for victims of sexual offences.
"We made use of the legislation in this court preparation witness waiting room as an opportunity to see what are the root causes for women or men who come to withdraw the cases.
"The one was the fear factor and secondly, was the socioeconomic statuses, as many of the women very financially dependent on their partners.
"Then there was the lack of support from family or extended family members and their employer. Lastly, the community does not know all the services available in Mitchells Plain," Ms Baartman said.
Darrin Johnson, senior public prosecutor at the Mitchell's Plain District GBV Court, said the witness waiting room enables the court to provide key social services to survivors of GBV through its stakeholder partners.
"People will come and sit here, and we would explain to them the perils of withdrawing cases, going back into the same situation and obviously expecting a different result.
"We would have each service provider explain what they can assist them with, how they could assist them, and provide them with advice and tools to deal with the situation that they're facing.
"As prosecutors and judiciary, we don't always have the tools to assist our survivors on a social level. Integrating the justice system with social services gives us a better way of dealing with the problems people have.
"As a prosecutor standing in court, having that type of information is very helpful as to how you actually handle the cases," Mr Johnson explained.
Ms Baartman said the most notable milestone of the district court was that of success stories of abused men who were helped through the National Prosecuting Authority's collaborative referral pathway project with stakeholders like the police, the departments of social development and justice, and GBV organisations Mosaic and Mitchell's Plain Network Opposing Abuse.
She said many men came to the court for help but wanted to withdraw cases because they doubted that anyone would believe they were victims of abuse.
One such person is Shuaib January, a Mitchell's Plain father of five children, who was attending maintenance hearings with his wife last year. Both had a protection order against each other. His wife allegedly fabricated facts and had him wrongfully arrested several times, which led to him losing his job and left him demoralised, said Ms Baartman.
"Mr January was well supported by the localised services of Mitchell’s Plain Network Opposing Abuse but like many complainants he wanted to withdraw the case against his wife.
"Senior public prosecutor Johnson believed in his story, refused to withdraw the matter and encouraged him to continue," Ms Baartman said.
The District GBV Court found Mr January not guilty of the accusations made by his wife. He was further vindicated when his employer gave him his work back, Ms Baartman said.
She added that the court's referral pathway programme also assisted unmarried couples resolve misunderstandings and co-parent effectively, and helped preserve families affected by elderly abuse.
For more information about the District GBV Court and witness waiting room, contact the Mitchell’s Plain court manager Shafiekah Davids on 021 370 4244 or SaDavids@justice.gov.za.