Though the Department of Justice has prioritised public communication about domestic violence and sexual offences, it has spent the past four financial years reviewing the implementation of the Domestic Violence Act.
It has also not reported to parliament on how the Sexual Offences Act has been implemented, as required.
According to the department's 2008-2009 annual report, it distributed 42670 information packs on the Sexual Offences Act and 1300 on sexual offences.
The Tshwaranang Legal Advocacy Centre notes, however, that "extreme tardiness is the defining characteristic of the [department's] implementation of its legislative mandate, making a mockery of its claim to prioritise women's needs".
It says a parliamentary review of the implementation of the Domestic Violence Act, tabled last October, recognised that "court officials were noted as subjecting applicants to secondary victimisation, as well as unnecessary and lengthy delays in obtaining court orders".
The Sexual Offences Act also places concrete obligations on the department, including developing regulations around giving medicine to victims, the testing of alleged rapists for HIV and facilitating a national register for sex offenders.
Although these deadlines were met, the report says subsequent obligations have "either been very delayed, or not met at all".
In the 2009-2010 annual report, the department said it had trained an unspecified number of officials, but an application for information by Tshwaranang, related to the training of clerks to deal with HIV testing of alleged rape victims, was referred to the National Prosecuting Authority without response.
Justice spokesman Tlali Tlali said he was not able to comment.
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