The maze of passages leading to District Court B on the first floor of the Wynberg Magistrate’s Court is dim, poorly lit and unventilated. It is mid-morning in Alexandra, a township north of Johannesburg. Just beyond the courthouse steps a throng of pedestrians weaves its way through clutters of hawkers’ stalls and food outlets. Loud music thumps from a radio inside a makeshift barber shop.
Inside the building, at the end of a long passage adjacent to District Court B, a blue-painted sign proclaims: ‘Sexual Offences Courtâ€. A row of offices lines the passage, the signs on the doors indicating their function in the court system. ‘Witness Waiting Room†and ‘Intermediary Roomâ€.
Thembi Ndebele is sifting through a mass of paperwork as she begins her long day. Since 2002 she has worked as a court preparation officer at this court, where her daily task is to assist and prepare for trial victims and witnesses to crime, particularly sexual offences. Most of her ‘clients†are what the state terms ‘vulnerable personsâ€, such as minors and abused women.
The position falls within the jurisdiction of the National Prosecuting Authority (NPA) as part of its stated commitment to empower victims of crime.
According to Karen Tewson, national manager of court preparation officers for the NPA: ‘The role arose from a gap in the system, whereby vulnerable victims of crime were in need of support services both during and after their cases came to trial.â€
In 1998 the project was pioneered, initially as part of a court readiness programme called ‘Court Wiseâ€.
The court preparation officer, explains Tewson, is there to offer a supporting role to the overworked, stressed prosecutors, freeing them to work on a successful prosecution.
‘In a defence case, the lawyer has lots of time to help put a case together and is allowed regular contact and consultation with his/her client.†In some cases the first time the prosecutor gets to brief the victim or witness is on the day of the trial.
Tewson says that in such circumstances the role of a court preparation officer is invaluable. ‘Too often one sees cases falling through because of inadequate preparation, resulting in the accused being set free, with the potential to offend again. I see it as a safety net.â€
Currently the NPA employs 68 court preparation officers nationally.
Their roles and functions are informed by clauses in different parts of legislation, including the Police Act and the Domestic Violence Act. Victim empowerment is their aim.
Though not actively involved in pursuing cases from trial to prosecution, the court preparation officer’s role is to offer not only moral and emotional support to victims, but to prepare them for their day in court by explaining court procedure. In an environment where the lower courts face resource constraints and case backlogs, Tewson’s task is to ensure that ‘high-risk cases†do not collapse in court owing to poor preparation or management.
Ndebele’s colleague, Jennifer Sibisi, also a court preparation officer, walks in to announce that the first client of the day has arrived. The two women’s working day is routine. They meet witnesses at the court on the day of the trial, take them to the prosecutor for a final consultation and thereafter wait with them and offer moral support until the case is called.
Huddled together on a bench outside Ndebele’s office are two middle-aged women and two girls in their early teens. Ndebele and Sibisi introduce themselves to the group, Sibisi playfully pinching the cheek of one of the younger girls.
‘I believe strongly that I’m making a big difference to the lives of these people, especially given what I used to see,†says Ndebele, as the group is led to the Witness Waiting Room.
It is here that the court preparation officer, who has already had several consultations with the witnesses, will have a final briefing before being called to testify. Because they have had the court procedures and rules explained to them well in advance, she says, witnesses feel more confident and self-assured when taking the stand.
Both women cite the ‘standard†problems such as lengthy trials and endless court postponements faced by courts countrywide as affecting their ability to do their jobs.
‘In the cases involving children, this is particularly bad, because it affects their confidence and by the time the defence calls them, it is easy to intimidate them,†says Ndebele.
An added problem in the past, until the court preparation officer role was formalised, was that prosecutors not only had to manage the case, they were also offering victim support services, such as referrals for counselling and court preparation.
‘Now, with our role, we take a lot of the pressure off the prosecutors, so they can just concentrate on the case,†says Ndebele.
‘We’re like their right hand.â€