By Lehlohonolo Lehana.
President Cyril Ramaphosa has hailed the work of government in the fight against gender-based violence.
Ramaphosa made the remarks during a virtual keynote address for Women’s Day.
It’s been three years since government convened the Presidential Summit on Gender-Based Violence and Femicide to fight the rising violence against women.
Ramaphosa reaffirmed the need for equal rights, dignity, economic liberation and freedom from violence.
“Today, we are formally releasing the one-year progress report on the implementation of the National Strategic Plan. Over the past year, in partnership with civil society, we have worked together to give effect to the six pillars of the National Strategic Plan,” said Ramaphosa.
“Although the launch of the plan coincided with the outbreak of the Covid-19 pandemic, we have nevertheless made measurable progress.”
As part of the work to provide justice and support to survivors of gender-based violence, Ramaphosa listed the 32 regional courts designated as sexual offences courts in various parts the country.
“Around 3,500 Family Violence, Child Protection and Sexual Offences investigating officers have received specialised training to do their work,” said Ramaphosa.
“Twelve public buildings have been renovated and repurposed to be used as shelters, and work has been done to ensure that all police stations in our country have sexual assault evidence kits.”
There has been important legal reform as well.
“Key legislation around domestic violence, bail and the sentencing of offenders, as well as broadening the scope of sexual offences and other matters is currently before Parliament.
“Our courts are handing down harsh penalties and sentences to those found guilty of gender-based violence and conviction rates in sexual offences cases have improved. We will soon ratify the International Labour Organisation’s Convention 190, which addresses sexual harassment and violence in the workplace,”Ramaphosa added.
The GBVF Private Sector Response Fund launched earlier this year has received more than R140 million in pledges.
He called on the private sector to continue making pledges towards the fund. The fund aims to assist the government in achieving its national strategic plan to tackle the GBV scourge.
Another aspect of the national strategic plan was to ensure economic and financial opportunities were created for women. Ramaphosa called on the private sector to join the pledge made by the government – that 40% of public procurement should go to women-run or women-owned businesses.
“A Women’s Economic Assembly will be launched later this month to identify the supply chain opportunities for women-owned businesses in key industries such as steel, automotive and energy sectors.
“Work is under way to develop a financial inclusion policy to address the barriers experienced by women-owned businesses and low-income earners to access credit, to also access grants and other financial transactions,” he said.
Ramaphosa said the government was also working on ensuring that the economic relief packages benefit women, as they have found it harder to recover from the impact of the coronavirus pandemic.