Anti-violence action welcomed

CIVIL society welcomed President Cyril Ramaphosa’s promises in his State of the Nation Address (Sona), to implement the decisions of the gender-based violence and femicide summit last year.

The summit was attended by people from all walks of life, and they outlined a roadmap to end gender-based violence and establish a commitment to resourcing and accountability.

Civil society also asked that gender-based violence be made a national priority and that the National Strategic plan against Gender-Based Violence and femicide be developed within the next six months.

Mandisa Khanyile, from Rise against Gender-Based Violence, said she welcomed what he said but was curious about where the money was going to come from.

“It will be interesting to see how the budget for the National Strategic Plan on Gender-Based Violence will be allocated,” she said.

Rakgadi Mohlahlane, from the campaign, said: “We wanted the matter to be addressed as a priority and implemented.”

Ramaphosa said work was under way to implement the decisions of the summit.

“This year we will work with our partners in civil society to implement the decisions of the summit on gender-based violence and femicide.

“In addition, we are strengthening the functioning of various specialised units such as the family violence, child protection and sexual offences units, and improving our administrative and record-keeping capacity.

“Over the last year we have started to address this scourge in a more serious and co-ordinated way. We are expanding and dedicating more funds to places of support, such as the Thuthuzela care centres and Khuseleka care centres.

“We have been working to ensure the better functioning of sexual offences courts.”

Ramaphosa also said they would be making funds available to combat gender-based violence, and had allocated funding in the current budget to support the decisions taken at the summit. He also said ending gender-based violence was an urgent national priority that required the mobilisation of all South Africans and the involvement of all institutions.