S. Africa finds 'rape courts' work

Rape is so prevalent in South Africa - and conviction rates so low - that three years ago, the government created 29 courts dedicated solely to sexual-assault crimes.

This unique criminal-justice experiment is proving so successful that the government now plans to more than double the number of "rape courts" by the end of next year.

"This is a homegrown solution that has been very effective," says Thoko Majokweni of South Africa's National Prosecuting Authority. "Conviction rates in these courts are much higher. But it's not just about that. It's about making sexual assault a priority and changing attitudes about how a victim is affected and treated by the legal system."

For a country dubbed the "rape capital" of the world, South Africa's legal system is providing a new road map for countries combating sexual assault. The new courts have halved the waiting time for trials while giving more weight to the rights of victims and giving prosecutors more time to develop cases.

The court here in Protea North has eight specially trained prosecutors and four judges who deal only with sexual offenses. Nthabiseng Motsau, the chief sexual-offenses prosecutor, is an energetic young woman with short, red-tinted hair. She rushes from courtroom to courtroom to keep tabs on developing cases. All eight of the prosecutors she supervises are women; Ms. Motsau says they communicate better than men with victims, about 70 percent of whom are children. Because prosecutors don't have to work on murder and robbery cases, they have time to prepare these children for their court appearances.

A lanky 11-year-old girl sits on the floor of a brightly painted room at the Teddy Bear Clinic, surrounded by faded stuffed animals and a few well-used toys. Around her are scattered a half-dozen puppets and a large laminated photograph of an empty courtroom.

"Hello," says the doll on the hand of Ntombi Mkwanyana, a matronly volunteer counselor who sits beside the girl. "I am the magistrate."

"Hello," responds the girl quietly to the gray-haired, black-robed puppet. The doll and the girl chat back and forth in Zulu, a widely spoken South African language. The puppet explains the job of a judge; the girl asks questions or simply indicates that she understands. She is timid at first, but then begins to enjoy the play. Eventually she picks up another puppet. This one is of a pigtailed girl. It represents her, the child rape victim who is learning to testify in court.

Down the hall, in another brightly painted room, a seven-year-old girl in a pink tank top is preparing to testify. She bounces around the room playfully, waving and chattering, until a large woman in a green suit tells her to come sit down. A retired teacher of 40 years, she serves as an intermediary between the child and the court, relaying questions - which she hears through earphones - while the court watches the girl's responses on closed-circuit television.

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