Page:Criminal Law (Sexual Offences and Related Matters) Amendment Act 2007.pdf/41

80 No. 30599

Act No. 32, 2007 the criteria to be used, circumstances and manner in which Directors of Public Prosecutions should authorise and institute a prosecution contemplated in section 38(1), dealing with the ascertainment of the HIV status of an alleged offender or disclosure of the results of any HIV tests, with the view to ensuring uniformity;

the information to be placed before a court during sentencing, including pre-sentence reports and information on the impact of the sexual offence on the complainant; and

the manner in which prosecutors must ensure that an order contemplated in section 50(2)(a) (dealing with an order of a court to include the accused's name in the Register) is forwarded to and received by the Registrar of the National Register for Sex Offenders.

(b) The National Director of Public Prosecutions must develop training courses, which must—

include training on the directives referred to in paragraph (a);

include social context training in respect of sexual offences; and

provide for and promote the use of uniform norms, standards and procedures,

with a view to ensuring that as many prosecutors as possible are able to deal with sexual offence cases in an appropriate, efficient and sensitive manner.

(c) The National Director of Public Prosecutions must, in consultation with the National Commissioner of the South African Police Service, issue and publish in the Gazette directives regarding the manner in which prosecutors and other officials in the national prosecuting authority must deal with the HIV test results that were disclosed by police officials, as contemplated in section 33(l)(e)(ii), in order to ensure the confidentiality of such test results.

(3) (a) The Director-General: Health must, in consultation with the Minister of Health and after consultation with the Directors-General: Justice and Constitutional Development and Social Development and the National Commissioners of the South African Police Service and Correctional Services, publish in the Gazette directives regarding all matters which are reasonably necessary or expedient to be provided for and which are to be followed by all medical practitioners and any other relevant persons when dealing with sexual offence cases, in order to achieve the objects of this Act as set out in section 2 and the Preamble, particularly those objects which have a bearing on complainants of such offences, with particular reference, among others, to—

the administering of Post Exposure Prophylaxis;

the manner in which court orders for compulsory HIV testing contemplated in section 33 must be executed in order to ensure the security, integrity and reliability of the testing processes and test results;

the manner in which the HIV test results contemplated in section 37 must be dealt with in order to ensure confidentiality;

the manner in which the reporting of an alleged sexual offence is to be dealt with if the offence is reported to a designated public health establishment; and

the manner in which assistance in the investigation and prosecution of sexual offences, generally, must be provided.

(b) The Director-General: Health must develop training courses, which must—

include training on the directives referred to in paragraph (a);

include social context training in respect of sexual offences; and

provide for and promote the use of uniform norms, standards and procedures,

with a view to ensuring that as many medical practitioners and any other relevant persons as possible are able to deal with sexual offence cases in an appropriate, efficient and sensitive manner.

(4) (a) The national instructions and directives by each Department or institution, contemplated in this section, must be:

Submitted to Parliament within six months after the commencement of this section, before publication in the Gazette; and

published in the Gazette.

(b) Paragraph (a) applies to any new or amended national instructions or directives issued under this section with the changes required by the context.