Fairland CPF learns valuable lessons on rape
FAIRLAND – CPF believes they are now better equipped to deal with any rape cases they deal with in the near future.
FAIRLAND – Members of the local CPF recently attended a course on how to deal with rape cases.
According to the statistics released by the police, 40 035 cases of rape were opened in the financial year between 2017 and 2018. Of that number, 8 062 of these cases were recorded in Gauteng. In an attempt to ensure that they can adequately deal with the trauma that victims of rape and any related cases face, members of the Fairland Community Policing Forum (CPF) attended a course on how to deal with such cases.
The course was held on 16 February and presented by Wilma Calvert, an ex-educator and senior lecturer at Flomotion Victim Empowerment Centre. Mahmood Cassim of the CPF shared what transpired at the seminar. He said, “A wealth of experience was exchanged between participants from various Community Police Forums, Victim Support members, emergency medical personnel, patrollers and the team from Flomotion.”
Cassim also shared what the definition of rape is. “Rape is classified as any form of non-consensual sex, irrespective of there being penetration or not.” This definition also applies to males as they too can be victims of rape and are to be treated in the same manner as their female counterparts when being counselled on such. This, along with other lessons on how rape has become an accepted norm of behaviour, sex education and some scary facts on rape cases were discussed at the course. Cassim shared one of these stats, “A frightening statistic that surfaced was that only ten per cent of rape cases get reported and of those, only eight per cent result in a conviction.”
Cassim believes that gaining such valuable information can only strengthen the CPF as they will are now better equipped to deal with such cases. He will be sharing the knowledge he gained at the course with the Victim Support Unit of the CPF and the CPF in general.
Related article:
https://www.citizen.co.za/northcliff-melville-times/278832/drosrape-time-review-law-protecting-rape-accused/
