Systemic Failures: Cross-Cutting Barriers to Justice
Our research showed that six systemic barriers to justice cut across every stage of the process:
1. Misconduct of officials
Many survivors reported misconduct of police and judicial officials. Although national legal and policy frameworks explain the responsibility of officials in gender-based violence cases, survivors reported that these officials failed to meet their obligations during each stage of the justice process. Such conduct replicates the harmful social and cultural norms that underpin gender-based violence. This contributes to cases being dropped, and can reinforce gender-based violence in their communities. 85% of women surveyed reported police incompetence.
2. Mistrust of police and the justice system
Survivors reported a lack of faith in the criminal justice system, particularly the police. This mistrust often arises from numerous experiences of police not taking their cases seriously and failed attempts to prosecute their perpetrators. Lengthy investigations and court proceedings, significant delays, and low conviction rates contribute to survivors’ lack of faith in the system. These factors compound an already widespread mistrust in state institutions and deters some people from ever reporting gender-based violence incidents.
3. Lack of cross-institutional coordination
Survivors reported lack of coordination between relevant institutions and actors in the justice system—including police, medical, judicial, and social services—creating barriers to justice. While processes are in place to facilitate referral between different parts of the system, survivors reported how relevant actors often did not complete such processes, completed them incorrectly, or did not properly share information. This results in survivors being redirected repeatedly in ways that place significant time, resource, and emotional burden on them, as well as jeopardizing their cases due to missing evidence and incomplete forms. Often, the practical burdens of connecting different actors within the justice system fall to survivors, rather than to the authorities.
4. Lack of adequate infrastructure, resourcing, and services
An overburdened justice system with insufficient capacity, lack of effective protection to ensure survivors’ safety, limitations in police resources, and inadequate public infrastructure were all cited as barriers to justice. For instance, 79% of survivors surveyed mentioned lack of resources for police services.
5. Geographic and socio-economic factors
Survivors and key people working in the sector stressed that a survivor’s ability to access the criminal justice process depends largely on their socio-economic status and where they live. Women in rural or disadvantaged areas may need to travel long distances to reach a police station, health center, or court and lack access to public transport. Without the financial resources to bear the cost of transport themselves, many survivors in locations without easily accessible infrastructure do not make it into the system at all or drop out when they repeatedly face barriers in accessing justice. 87% of survivors surveyed reported that they did not have the financial resources they would need to access police services, the health clinic, and the courts.
Women residing in areas where criminal gangs operate, such as townships and informal settlements in the Cape Flats region of the Western Cape, are not only vulnerable to gender-based violence but face further barriers to justice. Gangs intimidate victims and witnesses, preventing them from seeking recourse from the criminal justice system. Many survivors and witnesses—particularly in communities with high levels of gang violence—are influenced by widespread intimidation not to continue with their cases.
6. Victim’s lack of awareness of laws and their rights
According to key people working in the sector and survivors, most survivors have little to no knowledge or understanding of their rights, the law, or criminal justice processes related to gender-based violence—even after having engaged with the system in some way. This hampers access to justice from initial entry into the system when reporting to police or accessing services to trial proceedings. For instance, 83% of survivors surveyed said they did not know about services and support available to them.