/ 18 January 2002

State should foot the bill

The South African Law Commission this week launched its revised discussion paper on sexual offences radically proposing that the state should assume responsibility for “providing the financial means to cover the cost of prescribed medication for victims of rape”, including anti-retroviral drugs, writes Khadija Magardie.

The treatment to be covered by the government also includes trauma and pre- and post-HIV test counselling.

The document’s proposals, which were released for public comment in late December, would mean that if a doctor regards the drugs as necessary and prescribes them, the state should foot the bill. The impetus behind the suggestion would be to help indigent people who cannot afford the drug cocktail, which costs nearly R2 000.

The purpose of the latest discussion document, commissioned last year, was to reform the laws relating to sexual offences and includes recommendations relating to, among other things, reporting and investigating of sexual offences, the procedures for disclosure, court hearings, rules of evidence and sentencing of sexual offenders.

The discussion paper also suggests that failure by a person to disclose that he or she is infected with a sexually transmitted disease, including HIV, prior to having sexual relations with another person, consenting or otherwise, should be a criminal offence.

The law commission says in the document that such behaviour constitutes “criminal sexual activity”, adding that it “provisionally endorses the view that a separate offence should be created which specifically criminalises harmful HIV-related behaviour in the context of committing a sexual offence”. In effect, rapists could face an additional sentence to that received for their crime.