WHAT ARE WE DOING TO END THE BRUTALITY?

By Jessie Taylor and Sinazo Mkoko

“As a society, ending violence against women and children cannot be anything but our foremost priority,” - President Cyril Ramaphosa at the second Presidential Summit on Gender-Based Violence and Femicide in November 2022. The Summit aimed to assess progress in the implementation of the Gender-based Violence and Femicide National Strategic Plan (GBVF-NSP), which was adopted as a comprehensive, effective and united response to the Gender-Based Violence (GBV) pandemic in South Africa.

The GBVF-NSP was produced by the Interim Steering Committee established in April 2019 to respond to the gender-based violence and femicide crisis following the historic 2018 Presidential Summit on this subject. The National Strategic Plan is a government and civil society’s multi-sectoral strategic framework to realise a South Africa free from gender-based violence and femicide. President Ramaphosa said despite the efforts that have been made, violence against women and children continues unabated in South Africa.

“Not a day goes by without a story in the newspapers, on television or online about a woman or child that has lost their life or been abused in the most horrendous manner,” - H.E. Ramaphosa. He added that the stories of women and children who are victims of GBVF, tell a story about a society that is “deeply disturbing.”

“It is a story of a nation at war with itself. These barbaric acts are a shameful indictment of the men of this country. It is not women who are responsible for ending such crimes; it is men. As a society, ending violence against women and children cannot be anything but our foremost priority. This is about the lives of our country’s women and children. There can be no greater urgency” - President Ramaphosa.

Touching on the progress they’ve made thus far, H.E. Ramaphosa said one of the successes of the country’s efforts to fight gender-based violence is the extent to which social partners have rallied around the National Strategic Plan. “We are grateful to all those people from across society who have been involved throughout all stages of the formulation of the NSP and guided its implementation. We are further grateful to all the Working Groups, co-chaired by government and civil society representatives, that have been working tirelessly to drive the implementation of the NSP.”

In January last year, the President signed into law three key pieces of legislation that afford greater protection to survivors of gender-based violence and ensure that perpetrators are no longer able to use legislative loopholes to evade prosecution. However, His Excellency added that there was a need to be critical about those areas of the National Strategic Plan in which there has been little or no progress.

“We need practical plans to correct shortcomings and weaknesses. We need to plan together, implement together and account together. We owe this to the women and children of South Africa. We owe it to all who have been victims of this scourge, including families and loved ones. We owe it to the people of this country. The actions we take now will determine whether this crime forever remains a feature of our national life, or whether we can say we are the generation that ended it.” - President Ramaphosa. To achieve this vision, South Africa will centre its efforts on bringing about specific changes around key pillars over the next 10 years, broken down into the five-year outcomes as listed below:

1. Accountability, Coordination and Leadership

2. Prevention and Rebuilding the Social Cohesion

3. Justice, Safety and Protection

4. Response, Care, Support and Healing

5. Economic Power

6. Research and Information Management

“As we reclaim our society from the clutches of violence, homophobia, chauvinism and misogyny, this National Strategic Plan is both our shield and our armour. We will spare no effort until this country’s women and children are safe, can live, work and play in freedom, and their rights upheld.” - H.E. Ramaphosa.

A Shared Responsibility

Tackling gender-based violence requires a whole society approach, with government and private partnership at the centre. This has been put into effect through the Gender-Based Violence and Femicide Response Fund, a private sector-led effort to dedicate resources to fighting gender-based violence. At the launch of the private-sector led, multi-sectoral fund which will support the implementation of the National Strategic Plan, the business community pledged R128-million plus.

“We appreciate the resources that businesses and philanthropies who are committed to social transformation have been able to contribute. This commitment comes at a time of great economic difficulty, which itself contributes to the hardship and vulnerability affecting women. It is an important contribution to improving the lives of women and girls in our society. The successful launch of the Fund is a significant demonstration of the depth of social compacting in our society and the vision of a better South Africa shared by social partners.”

Partnering For The Future

The Fund comes as part of the Gender-Based Violence and Femicide Declaration, which followed the GBVF Summit held in 2018 which brought together government, civil society and other role players to find lasting interventions to end gender-based violence. South Africa has been working toward ending violence and harassment in the workplace through the International Labour Organisation (ILO) Convention.

The country joined the Nations (UN’s) Generation Equality Forum, participating in advocacy around gender-based violence and women’s financial inclusion. The government also lobbied for genderresponsive trade policies to be developed as part of the African Continental Free Trade Area and adopted a policy of 40% preferential public procurement for women-owned enterprises.

At the launch of the Fund, President Ramaphosa said: “It has been a long and challenging road, but we have laid the cornerstone. This is just the beginning, and we are confident that the pledging process will continue into this year, as more of our partners in the private sector and international philanthropies come on board.”

Sources: Justice.gov.za | SAGov | stateofthenation.gov.za | The Presidency