TRC Final Report

Volume 6

Section 2

Chapter 8

Subsection 3

The process followed by the President’s Fund

26. Once forwarded to the President ’s Fund, application forms were registered and prepared for payment and service recommendation. Victims were sent a letter from the President and a letter from the Preside n t ’s Fund. This included the amount of the financial grant they were to receive and the name of an official in the Department of Welfare who would assist them in accessing the services recommended by the RRC. This usually meant referring the individual to the relevant government department.

Interim reparation referral

27. This referral process lay at the heart of the interim reparation process in that it emphasised a reparative intervention based on the reported consequences of a g =ross human rights violation and did not focus merely on making a financial grant. The fact that this aspect of the programme has so significantly failed to deliver so far is extremely disappointing. The Commission’s policy recommendations published in its Final Report depended on a carefully balanced reparation package.

28. The referral process was discussed and formulated in conjunction with the Inter-Ministerial Committee on Reparation, chaired by the then Minister of Justice, Mr Abdullah Omar. Minister Geraldine Fraser-Moleketi, then Minister of Welfare and Population Development, volunteered that her Ministry would serve as the conduit through which victims could be channelled to other government departments. This offer was not in line with the initial policy direction of the RRC, which preferred the location and responsibility of the referrals to be in an office like the Presidency, so that it would command co-operation from all government ministries.

29. Despite its reservations, the RRC decided to co-operate with this suggestion. In October 1998, Minister Fraser-Moleketi provided the framework for the following referral process through her Director-General’s Office. The following memorandum, dated 14 October 1998 and written to the Minister of Welfare by the Director General of Welfare, Ms Luci Abrahams, outlined the Department’s planned approach. It was forwarded to the RRC with the names of allocated officials by province .

1 . The Department of Welfare in Provinces should be the focal point for referrals .

The Pre s ident ’s Fund refers the victim to Provincial Head of Department for We l fare and the victim’s application form is forwarded to the HOD. A copy of such a referral is sent to the Provincial Director General and the National Department of We l f a re .

The Pre s i dent ’s Fund informs the victim that the Provincial Government has been requested to render serv ices .

The Provincial Head of Department of We l f a re constitutes an Inter- Departmental Committee (sanctioned by the office of the Premier and Provincial Direct o r- Genera l ) comprised of senior representatives at provincial line function department.

The Inter- Governmental Committee decides which provincial department/s should render services to the victim.

Departmental services offices or institutions to give service to the victim.

Reports on services rendered to be given to the Provincial Head of Department of We l f a re for channelling to the Commission and the Pre side n t ’s Fund with copies to Provincial Dire c t o r-General and the National Department of We l f a re .

There should be a two-week turn around period for processing of applications and refer rals .

The period within which the process is to be finalised will be four to six weeks.

2. Services provided should include the following:

Trauma Counselling and support even if the event happened a long time ago The National Victim Empowerment programme makes provision for assistance to victims of all forms of crime and violence

Provincial victim empowerment forums should be set up and engaged as a contact point with service providers in government and NGO sector

Provincial networks on violence against women co-ordinate related services to abused women

A list of contact persons in the provinces is attached

3. Information on records of individuals and communities should be made available by the TRC.