Safe houses for GBV victims
PUBLIC Works and Infrastructure Minister Patricia de Lille yesterday handed six more government-owned buildings to the Social Development Department to be used as shelters for the victims of gender-based violence (GBV).
This now brings the number of government-owned buildings to be used as shelters for GBV victims to 10, after four properties in Pretoria were handed over in December.
The additional buildings are in the Garden Route, West Coast and Central Karoo districts of the Western Cape, while two others are in Joburg.
At a media briefing in Parliament for the announcement, De Lille was supported by Development Minister Lindiwe Zulu and Western Cape Social Development MEC Shanaaz Fernandez.
De Lille noted that the country was in a crisis and that women and children were under siege. “With all the interventions to fight GBV, the government can’t do it alone. We need the help of the private sector, civil society, community-based organisations and communities themselves to deal with this scourge.”
She said statistics showed that violence against women and children was most rampant in Gauteng, the Western Cape and KwaZulu-Natal.
“That does not mean we are not prioritising all provinces. We are currently looking at all nine provinces where we can find unused buildings belonging to the Department of Public Works and Infrastructure, and we then set aside budget funds to renovate, clean them up and make sure they are safe houses that can be used by our communities,” she said.
De Lille challenged the provincial and local government to release their own buildings and land for purposes of GBV shelters.
Zulu, meanwhile, said it was their responsibility to empower women so they could decide to go somewhere when abused, but that would not be possible without creating a conducive environment for women and their children.
She thanked De Lille for taking on the issue of violence against women and children instead of focusing on other matters in her portfolio.
“As we call on other departments, as the Department of Social Development we say this burden we have in South Africa is a shame. The shame we carry must be a shame for everybody. It must be a national shame so that it calls us to action,” Zulu added.
She said the initiative would feed into her department’s programmes, and urged those involved in GBV fights to come together as a collective and properly co-ordinate their actions.
Fernandez welcomed the handing over of buildings on behalf of the provincial administration.
“Minister, thank you from the bottom of my heart for thinking beyond just Public Works, but recognising GBV is a societal issue. We can’t deny our society is deeply wounded and traumatised, not only by effects of apartheid, but by social ills that exist in our communities, especially in the Cape Flats and the rural areas,” she said.