Cape Town Despite promises included in the National Strategic Plan (NSP) to address gender-based violence (GBV) and femicide, the government has still failed to provide necessary funding for shelters and other services.
This was revealed by the Human Rights Watch (HRW) after they conducted a study about the country’s response to violence against women and children during the lockdown.
“We had a question which as we know the shelters are a life-saving intervention in terms of addressing GBV,” said HRW researcher, Sky Wheeler. “We wanted to know how Covid-19 has impacted this crucial service in South Africa. Many survivors have been made more vulnerable in the context of Covid-19,” she added.
President Cyril Ramaphosa had promised to tackle head-on the fight against the scourge of GBV and femicide since he took office. He even called it the second pandemic. Ramaphosa launched the Gender-Based Violence and Femicide Response Fund which was aimed at financing and supporting the implementation of the NSP on GBV and the wider GBVF response in the country. The creation of the fund was a fulfilment of a resolution taken at the Gender-Based Violence and Femicide Declaration which followed the 2018 GBV femicide Summit.
Ford Foundation pledged R20.2 million, Anglo-American R30m and ABSA R20m.
Despite all this, Wheeler found more had to be done.
“Some people especially the vulnerable people such as sex workers, LGBTQI and immigrants found it hard to access GBV shelters. Not because they are being purposely excluded, but because there are not enough resources, not enough thinking going into making sure that shelters are available for them and that they know about them.”
Elisabeth Jengo, a GBV consultant and specialist, said she interviewed social workers in the Western Cape, KwaZulu Natal and Gauteng.
“There were different challenges faced by shelters as some stated that they received government funding on time, while others said they received very little support. Staff found themselves in a state of panic and anxiety.”
She said many shelters struggled, especially during the hard lockdown, as there were more victims of corrective rape and victims getting away from abusive partners.
They suggested that efforts should be made to improve access for marginalised people, including sex workers, LGBTQI people and undocumented survivors.
Ramaphosa spokesperson Tyrone Seale did not respond to questions sent to him about whether the president had failed to fund shelters during the pandemic.
Weekend Argus