GENDER-BASED VIOLENCE & FEMICIDE: CALL FOR INPUT TO JOINT NATIONAL INQUIRY

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GENDER-BASED VIOLENCE & FEMICIDE: CALL FOR INPUT TO JOINT NATIONAL INQUIRY

• 14 August 2026
• Justice & Constitutional Development
• SA Legal Academy

The deadline has been extended for input to a joint inquiry into the criminal justice system as it responds to gender-based violence and femicide. This is according to a notice published on the Parliamentary Monitoring Group (PMG) website. The inquiry will focus on the system’s incident reporting procedures, victim support availability, investigation process and pre-trial functioning. 

As far as can be ascertained, the inquiry’s commencement was announced on 21 July 2026 in a media statement posted on the South African Human Rights Commission (SAHRC) website but apparently not made more widely available. At the time, the deadline for public comments was set at 3 August 2026. It has now been extended to 11 September 2026.

To be conducted jointly by the SAHRC, the Commission for Gender Equality and the Commission for the Promotion & Protection of the Rights of Cultural, Religious & Linguistic Communities, the national inquiry:

• is ‘based on the 2020 National Strategic Plan on Gender-Based Violence & Femicide, particularly Pillar 3’, and
• will be conducted in different phases.

This is according to the SAHRC statement, which among other things notes that the 2020 strategic plan’s Pillar 3 ‘seeks to strengthen the criminal justice system’s response’ through improved:

• investigation
• prosecution
• survivor protection
• integrated case management
• institutional accountability, and
• co-ordination between relevant state institutions.

To be conducted in two stages, the inquiry’s first phase will focus on:

• ‘survivor testimony and lived experiences’, followed by
• ‘pre-trial functioning and accountability within the criminal justice system’.

Unpacking each stage of Phase 1, the SAHRC statement notes that – in examining the challenges, successes and systemic gaps relating to survivor testimony and the lived experiences of a cross-section of vulnerable persons – among other things the inquiry will explore:

• the reporting process
• access to protection orders and other protective measures
• Thuthuzela Care Centre, hospital, shelter and victim support services
• access to trauma-informed care and psychosocial support, and
• secondary victimisation, stigma, discrimination and barriers.

During the second stage of Phase 1 (pre-trial functioning and accountability), among other things the inquiry will examine:

• the reporting process and police response
• investigation quality and delays
• handling and processing forensic evidence
• communication with survivors regarding case progress
• docket management and movement
• the prosecutorial decision-making process
• the reasons for case withdrawal
• delays affecting access to justice
• bail-related processes and survivor safety considerations, and
• co-ordination between the South African Police Service, the National Prosecuting Authority, the courts, health services, social development services and other support structures.

Against that backdrop, written and oral submissions are sought from:

• survivors and their families
• civil society non-governmental and community-based organisations
• legal practitioners
• service providers
• researchers, academics and experts. and
• any interested persons or institutions with information that may assist the inquiry.

Please click the links below for more information:

• PMG notice
• July 2026 media statement
• 2020 strategic plan

Published by SA Legal Academy Policy Watch

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