GBVF-NSP FOCUS BY JESSIE TAYLOR
GBV: NATIONAL COUNCIL TO LEAD THE
Government’s Response SA’S GENDER-BASED VIOLENCE AND FEMICIDE NATIONAL STRATEGIC PLAN The establishment of a National Council to deal with gender-based violence has been placed on the political agenda. It is an essential forum to coordinate the country’s response to gender-based violence.
women are victims of femicide in South Africa each year. This number is five times the global average. In addition, estimates claim that almost half of all women have reported experiencing emotional or economic abuse at the hands of their intimate partners in their lifetime.
The National Council on GenderBased Violence and Femicide Bill 2021, which lays out the legal framework for establishing the National Council on Gender-Based Violence and Femicide, should be introduced to Parliament before the end of the financial year.
South African women are vulnerable to very high levels of intimate partner violence and sexual violence. This is evidenced in statistics that between 25% and 40% of South African women have experienced sexual or physical intimate partner violence in their lifetime.
A STRATEGIC RESPONSE Gender-based violence has been dubbed the ‘second pandemic’ South Africa is facing. Statistics paint an alarming picture, with more than 2 700 women murdered due to gender-based violence in the last 20 years.
To address the scourge of genderbased violence, President Cyril Ramaphosa established the National Strategic Plan on Gender-Based Violence and Femicide on 30 April 2020.
The World Health Organisation estimates that 12.1 in every 100 000
The Plan shows high-level political commitment to acting decisively against gender-based violence. The Plan feeds into President
22 | Public Sector Leaders | November 2021
Ramaphosa’s Emergency Response Action Plan and was developed in partnership with civil society, activists, and researchers. The National Strategic Plan, which had around R21-billion allocated towards it, aims to eradicate gender-based violence by 2030.
The National Council will be inclusive of all South Africans, including women from urban and rural areas
But one of the key elements hindering the Plan’s progress has been the non-establishment of the National Council. According to a report on the progress made in the first year of implementing the Plan, the lack of a National Council hindered the effective monitoring of the government’s response.
