Frustrated by the government’s empty promises on gender-based violence (GBV) and femicide, the ANC Women’s League (ANCWL) last week summoned officials to a meeting to demand action.
Deputy President Paul Mashatile led a delegation from the presidency alongside Minister of Women Sindisiwe Chikunga.
Speaking to Sunday World Engage, ANCWL secretary-general Nokuthula Nqaba said the league has run out of patience.
She revealed that league members confronted Mashatile, telling him that the government was playing marbles with a serious issue.
They told Mashatile that they were not happy that, since the Presidential Summit on Gender-Based Violence and Femicide in 2022, there had been little to no progress.
Lack of urgency
She said the league told Mashatile that the government should treat GBV with the same urgency it had displayed in fighting the Covid-19 pandemic.
The command centres that tracked and traced those who had contracted Covid-19 must be used in the fight against GBV.
The weekly “Family Meetings” by President Cyril Ramaphosa that had become a tradition must return to give updates on the government’s work on curbing GBV, the league demanded.
“We had a meeting last Thursday as the women’s league with the deputy president of the country, Paul Mashatile. He came with a team from the presidency, including the minister of women,” said Nqaba.
“We needed to understand what is happening to the commitments that were made in the GBV Summit. Why is there no movement? There was talk during the summit, and suddenly, there was a lull. It took us a short space of time to overcome Covid-19 as a pandemic.”
If GBV is a pandemic, where the similarity of response
She said that Ramaphosa, at the time, characterised GBV as the second pandemic. “Our question to the deputy president was, ‘What’s the difference? Where are those command centres that were established at the time to deal with Covid-19?’”
Nqaba said the league has placed GBV front and centre of its priorities because it has gotten out of control.
Seeing the government not moving at the pace it is meant to, triggered the league to call for the meeting. She described the meeting as cordial and said Mashatile listened to their cries and frustrations, and promised that the government would lift its socks.
Said Nqaba: “The deputy president said they will look into the matter, and they understand the call. And we said maybe it might take time because you are struggling with the GNU about the differences that exist within it to declare GBV a national disaster.
If you declare GBV a national disaster, you will have to ring-fence and shift resources. Also, the weekly Family Meetings would have to be called, which is our demand for the government to talk to us about what they are planning to do about women getting killed every day.
Mashatile made commitments
“We have tabled those ideas with the deputy president, and he said they’re learning, and they will look into issues that the league demands be prioritised.”
Nqaba said the league demanded that the government speedily establish teams in security cluster departments on GBV, which Mashatile committed to.
“That is how far we have moved about GBV, which is a scourge taking much of our work from many other things. But we are firm on it because what would be the point? Which women will we be liberating if they’re being killed every day?”
Nqaba insisted that this was a worthy battle for the league.
She said the league would fight to ensure the necessary policy changes are effected in the tender regime.
She said the Doubting Thomases need not look any further than the fight for a fair share of procurement in the state for women.
Almost half of procurement budget set aside for women
“Already, there is a commitment made by the state for 40% set aside on procurement for women. We understand that things are moving at a slow pace, and sometimes it is difficult to trace progress, but we do know that the policy is there.
“The system in its current form is corrupt; that is where the problem is. We might blame the tender system, only to find that there is nothing wrong with it but the people.”
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