The Faculty of Law at North-West University (NWU) does not only provide quality legal education and undertake focused research, but is also involved in the community – as was the case in this year's Nelson Mandela Day project.

During June and July, as part of their contribution to Mandela Day, the faculty collected donations for the Thuthuzela Rape Crisis/Care Centre.

The Thuthuzela centres are a critical part of South Africa's anti-rape strategy. Their aim is to minimise secondary trauma for rape survivors, improve perpetrators’ conviction rates and reduce lead times for finalising cases. The centres operate in public hospitals in communities where the incidence of rape is particularly high and are also linked to the sexual offences courts.

The centres provide rape survivors with care packages containing toiletries and other basic necessities. Since the faculty realises the importance of these centres, they aim to support them where possible, and decided to collect these items for Mandela Day.

Staff from the faculty handed over the donations to the nurses at the Thuthuzela Centre at Bophelong on Thursday, 26 July 2018 and on the 27th July 2018. The nurses expressed their gratitude and emphasised the importance of such support, as well as the necessity for cooperation between the community and the centre.
 
Nurses at the Thuthuzela Centre at Bophelong accept the NWU Faculty of Law’s donations.

Nurses at the Thuthuzela Centre in Potchefstroom are seen with members from the NWU Faculty of Law

The faculty would like to thank everyone who took the time to take part in the Mandela Day project, especially since they view community engagement as an important part of their core activities.

The faculty’s goal is to equip law students with the knowledge, ethics and skills that they will need in their professional lives, and also to expand the science of law through the research staff and postgraduate students conduct in the service of justice and democracy.