The Department of Social Development has allocated R178-million for the provision of support services to victims of gender-based violence and femicide (GBVF).
In an effort to address the scourge, which has been declared the second pandemic in the country, the department partnered with the National Shelter Movement of South Africa to host a Shelter Indaba at Holiday Inn, Sunnyside Park Hotel in Parktown, Johannesburg on Wednesday.
The department is responsible for over 300 shelters across the country, which include White Doors and Khuseleka care centres.
“These centres assist with addressing the magnitude and high prevalence of GBVF, which has a negative impact on the lives of vulnerable women, children, persons with disabilities and the lesbians, gays, bisexual, transgender, queer and intersex community,” said the department.
In her address, Minister of Social Development Lindiwe Zulu said the GBVF is a very serious and painful crime.
“As a department, we want to deal with the pandemic house by house and encourage our communities to freely talk about it. GBVF demands each and every one of us to join forces and deal with it,” said Zulu, noting that more often women die at the hands of their partners and family members.
She further called on South Africans to take the shadow pandemic, as President Cyril Ramaphosa calls it, seriously.
“Shelters continue to play a pivotal role in housing the victims of gender-based violence. The department will continue to financially support these shelters, so that they can continue to give the needed services to the victims.”
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