There are several models upon which a system of victim support in South Africa could be based. These include the victim/witness model; a referral service; advocacy; a centralised direct service model; and a decentralised direct services model.

In South Africa, the decentralised direct service model will be the most appropriate.1 This model utilises all existing organisations in criminal justice, social work and the community to assist victims of crime and violence. In so doing, there is no need to create a new organisation and bureaucratic system. The model requires a host agency to take responsibility for co-ordinating and planning support work. Although four possible host agencies have been identified, namely the police, the prosecutor's office, a social work agency and a volunteer agency, a national social work agency – for example, the National Institute for Crime Prevention and the Rehabilitation of Offenders (Nicro) will be the best option in the South African context.

This model requires a national co-ordinating committee comprising representatives of govemment departments and selected support service co-ordinators; a provincial co-ordinating committee, consisting of provincial co-ordinators as well as representatives of affiliated victim support schemes; and various individual victim support schemes.

More specifically, the national co-ordinating committee would comprise representatives of all the provincial bodies, the police, the departments of justice, health and welfare, and the Human Sciences Research Council (HSRC). Its functions would be to:

formulate policies for victim support;



handle communication and co-ordination problems;



plan an annual conference for participating support schemes;



encourage the training of all members;



implement regulations to eliminate prejudice against victims of crime and violence;



initiate and commission research;



advise parliament of changes that should be rnade to legislation to improve the position of victims;



set standards for rendering services;



explain the decentralised direct service model; and



establish contact with neighbouring countries, with a view to expanding victim support services to the entire southern African region.

The provincial co-ordinating committee would comprise representatives of all the organisations in the province that support victims of crime and violence. One social service organisation would serve as a host agency, providing a full-time co-ordination officer and administrative backing for co-ordinating the different victim support schemes. Functions of the provincial co-ordinating committees would be to:

co-ordinate support services in the province;



initiate new support service programmes, and amend the existing ones according to the needs of the victims;



help train volunteers;



collect statistical data for research purposes;



hold regular meetings with different support schemes to identify breakdowns in co-ordination and communication;



represent different victim support schemes on the national co- ordinating committee; and



initiate crime prevention drives.

Individual victim support schemes would comprise all groups and organisations in a community which assist victims of crime. Functions of the individual victim support schemes would be to:

provide assistance to victims of crime;



refer victims to appropriate agencies;



provide training to upgrade and develop services in line with standards set by the national co-ordinating committee;



keep statistics; and



provide information on crirne prevention to the community.

This model utilises existing structures in the community, and mobilises the private and public sectors to meet their social responsibility. It is based largely on the use of volunteers, and a limited number of paid co-ordinators and clerical staff. The service should be financed on an equal basis by the private and public sectors, in the form of salary subsidies and donations.

The value of the model lies in its co-ordination of victim support schemes, quality support resulting from a common set of standards, and the maintenance of the character of each individual scheme.

ENDNOTES

W J Schurink, I Snyman, W F Krugel and L Slabbert, L (eds), Victimisation: nature and trends, Pretoria: HSRC Publishers, 1992.