The North West Provincial Legislature’s Portfolio Committee on Public Works and Roads Safety, Community Safety and Transport Management has lauded the Tshidilamolomo Police Station for their compliance of the Domestic Violence Act (DVA) 116 of 1998 as well as the National Instruction on Domestic Violence 7 of 1999. The police station, which is situated in a remote village within the perimeters of Ratlou Local Municipality, achieved a 100% compliance score based on the findings of the DVA monitoring tool of the Department of Community Safety and Transport Management.

Furthermore it was highlighted that the station had adequate compliance systems in place to cover administrative as well as operational bases of the DVA. The findings of the assessment were presented by the Chief Director for Civilian Secretariat for Police Service Ms Mpho Maleme during the portfolio committee’s oversight visit to the station.

“The police station had appointed an official as a DVA coordinator and received training on the implementation of the Act. In addition, members of the Community Service Centre (CSC) were found to be in possession of updated pocket books, a high level of compliance to filing protection orders and warrants of arrests was identified together with the availability of interim orders.

“The station was also found to have a functional Victim Friendly Room (VFR) with females deployed per shift. Currently, no DVA cases were reported against members of the police,” said Maleme.

The Chairperson of the committee, Mmoloki Cwaile says the excellent performance of the station should be used as a measure of standard for stations particularly in the rural areas to effectively deal with the domestic violence.

“In our oversight visits, it is the first time that we encounter a performance such as this one in relation to domestic violence and it must be applauded.

“The issue of violence particularly towards women and children is a great concern, it is therefore important that the police have the right capacity to deal with it. This includes compliance with legislation around how to deal with the sensitive nature of domestic violence, to ensure victim privacy and protection,” said Cwaile.

The portfolio committee is currently on an oversight visit in the Ngaka Modiri Molema District.

—ENDS—