Stoneman, founder of iThemba, returned to the organisation after a four-year hiatus.
The organisation’s new board, elected in December 2014, asked him to return to assist with fund-raising, marketing, quality control and training.
He said his main focus will be to reintroduce Medico-Legal services, which haven’t been offered by iThemba in the past few years.
“The Medico-Legal aspect means providing a forensic examination, by a nurse, of a rape survivor and then presenting the evidence in court,” said Stoneman.
“What set iThemba apart from other organisations was the Medico-Legal, for which we had very high standards.”
He said CMS funded the first forensic nurse, soon after iThemba’s inception 10 years ago, starting at the Benoni Central Methodist Church, in Western Extension.
“In the first couple of months we had about 10 cases a month,” he said.
“As soon as we had a forensic nurse on call, cases jumped to 52 in that first month.”
Since then, iThemba has moved several times and the number of cases steadily increased to level out at around 100 to 120 per month.
“In Elston Avenue we had separate services, with a big team of counsellors, psychology interns, social workers and three forensic nurses, and we offered medication free of charge,” Stoneman elaborated.
”There were a number of convictions thanks to the quality of the evidence collected by our forensic nurses.
“The police and detectives’ jobs were made easier and prosecutors could come to us for evidence to be used in court.
“I left in mid-2011, by which time we had completed about 3 500 rape cases.”
Before he founded iThemba, Stoneman was a chaplain with the emergency services.
“We got many calls from rape survivors and a few stood out in my mind and impacted me emotionally and spiritually,” he said.
“One was a woman who had been raped in Boksburg, about two blocks from where my mom lived, and she was around the same age as my mom.
“Although she went to a private hospital, we couldn’t get a district surgeon and it eventually took hours to get a doctor.
“The thing that really impacted me was, while we waited, her son came in, put his head on her bosom and started sobbing.
“He must have been around my age; I remember being so angry, this could have been my own mother and we weren’t giving her the best possible treatment.”
Stoneman said the experience convinced him that the process of treating rape victims should be more conducive to healing, an idea which formed the origin of iThemba.
Today iThemba provides services in Benoni and Braamfontein, has Victim Empowerment Centres (VEC) at eight police stations in Ekurhuleni and employs over 90 staff members.
Stoneman highlighted that his and iThemba’s main concern regarding rape is awareness.
According to him, only about one in 10 people report rape, due to fears of judgment, rejection or embarrassment.
“The only way those people will come forward is when we raise awareness, then we can get rid of the stigma and more people will be encouraged to speak out,” he explained.
iThemba can’t bring in forensic nurses at the moment, as they’re operating at a monthly shortfall.
Stoneman asked that the public helps to bridge the deficit in order to bring back full Medico-Legal services for rape victims.
