The Western Cape provincial government has called on the Department of Justice to intervene after an “alarming increase of attacks on social workers”.

After a presentation by the provincial Department of Social Development to the standing committee on Social Development earlier in August, the committee wrote to Justice Minister Thembisile Simelane, asking for attacks against social workers attacks to be reclassified as an “offence against the state”, with harsher legal consequences.

According to the head of the provincial department, Dr Robert Macdonald, the department has recorded one attack a week on social workers this year. “We tell our social workers that if they are going into a high-risk area, they must take a police escort,” he said. But this isn’t always possible.

Khayelitsha-based Xolisani Sibhozo, a social worker since 2012, welcomed the call for harsher punishment but said more pragmatic changes were needed. “It’s pretty scary not knowing if you will go home at the end of the day,” he said. “If we take forever to attend to a case, they (the community) are quick to blame us, overlooking the fact that we are not protected…we are actually scared.” He said some programmes have had to be postponed due to safety issues.

A colleague had been shot in the head a few months ago, Sibhozo said, and when he returned to work had asked to be transferred out of Khayelitsha.

Sibhozo suggested deploying private security guards to assist the police could help prevent these attacks.

MEC for Social Development Jaco Londt also welcomed the letter.

Wendy Kaizer-Philander (DA), chair of the committee, said there had been an alarming rise in hijackings and physical attacks on social workers, especially while they were driving in government vehicles. She said harsher legal consequences “would elevate the urgency with which these cases are treated”.

Tsekiso Machike, spokesperson for the Ministry of Justice and Constitutional Development, said that any “offence against persons performing a public service is viewed in a serious light”. He said a response to the letter would depend on the context of the attacks.

Written by Matthew Hirsch. Republished with permission from GroundUp. The original article can be found here.