National police commissioner Riah Phiyega must provide answers on why only one police station out of 156 checked complied with the Domestic Violence Act. This was the call on Wednesday by Parliament's portfolio committee on police as the Civilian Secretariat for Police briefed the committee on the implementation of the Domestic Violence Act.Out of 156 police stations sampled throughout the country, only one was 100% compliant with the requirements of the act whille 87% were found to be partially compliant and 13% non-compliant.Committee chairman Francois Beukman said: “Only Brooklyn police station is compliant, one in the whole country … The commissioner will have to answer for this … the fight against domestic violence is a priority of government.”But the oversight body's briefing drew criticism on the “validity” of the sampling used to test he compliance of police stations. The number of police stations visited per province was inconsistent, with only one visited in Kwazulu-Natal, two in the Northern Cape and eight in the Western Cape. In Gauteng, 46 police stations were visited.The committee did not allow the secretariat to continue its briefing after its methods were questioned.Committee member Dianne Kohler Barnard said that the committee was “wasting time” as the same issue arose in the secretariat's previous briefing on the act.The secretariat blamed “lack of capacity” for the low number of police stations visited in some provinces.It added that they are currently working on improving their sampling method by consulting with Statistics SA.The secretariat's report also stated that 151 complaints were made against members for non-compliance with the act but limited action was taken. At a police station in Zeerust in North West, 78 complaints were made against members but zero disciplinary processes were instituted.Sanja Bornman of the Women’s Legal Centre said that there has been “no shift” when it comes to domestic violence.“It points to a lack of accountability ... There is awareness that there is a problem but change is not happening fast enough,” she said.In a recent research paper commissioned by the African Policing Civilian Oversight Forum, researcher Lisa Vetten noted that the secretariat's current method of research makes it difficult to “pinpoint what precisely is not being adhered to”.She recommended that if the police station audits are to induce change, follow-up visits must be done routinely to ensure that “deficiencies are corrected”.Vetten added that no consequences flow from non-compliance...