Social Development Minister, Lindiwe Zulu, has challenged South African citizens to hold unresponsive officials accountable when dealing with the scourge of gender-based violence and femicide (GBVF).
“We are here because we need to hold each other accountable. We need to pull our energies together and make sure that we do the right thing by the women of South Africa in ending GBVF,” Zulu said.
To solve the problem, Zulu said principals need to go house to house, street to street and community to community, to get to the root causes of GBVF.
“If we were to ask every woman and man in this room [about] the pain they feel on a daily basis - when they wake up in the morning or walk down the streets - all of us walk in pain. We are not perfect, but we wake up in the morning, we show up and do the best that we can,” Zulu said.
Zulu made the remarks on a second day of the Presidential Summit on Gender-Based Violence and Femicide held in Midrand on Wednesday.
GBV command centre
Highlighting some progress registered by the department in the implementation of the National Strategic Plan on Gender-Based Violence and Femicide (NSP on GBV), Zulu said through the services of the Gender-Based Violence Command Centre, the department continues to be accessible to victims of gender-based violence across the country.
She said throughout the COVID-19 lockdown period, the centre reached 184 462 clients, compared to the 2019/20 financial year, where 61 573 clients were reached.
“The Gender-Based Violence Command Centre continues to provide gender-based violence victims with holistic services, such as psychosocial counselling, on a 24/7 basis. Between April 2021 and March 2022, 70 353 people accessed these services,” Zulu said.
The department has also deployed a total of 100 GBVF ambassadors in hotspots to conduct education and awareness campaigns. These include the employment of 250 social workers focusing on GBVF.
Policy to improve payment of NPOs
Regarding funding for non-profit organisations, the Minister said through the inter-governmental MinMEC processes, the department has developed and approved the Sector Funding Policy, which puts in place mechanisms to facilitate planning, prioritisation, programme targeting and budgeting.
In addition, the department is currently developing the NPO Online Funding System, which complements the funding policy and addresses the delays in the processing of transfers to NPOs.
“The online funding system will automate our NPO-funding application processes. When fully implemented, the system will initially complement the manual application process. However, over time, it will become the preferred mode of applying for funds by NPOs,” the Minister said.
She said a total of 963 NPOs are registered as rendering victim empowerment services and are supported by 1 238 NPOs that are registered as providing family services.
Zulu said all the registered NPOs are accountable in terms of the NPO Act, and 60% of them are not compliant with the NPO Act, as they do not submit their annual reports, due to non-filing.
Meanwhile, 30 properties were identified across the country as suitable for GBV shelters, with the majority of them implemented by civil society organisations funded by the department.
A total of 146 organisations, including the National Institute Community Development and Management, Lifeline SA and the National Shelter Movement, are funded by the department at a cost of approximately R191 million. – SAnews.gov.za
