GP Community Safety sits on R30m meant for victims of domestic violence

14 September 2017

During the 2016/17 financial year, the Gauteng Department of Community Safety received a donation of R30 million from BMW for the purpose of empowering victims of domestic abuse. According to the Department’s annual report, this money went unspent and without explanation.

This sends the message that the Gauteng ANC-led government does not care about victims of domestic abuse, especially women.

The Department further failed to deliver on its civilian oversight mandate by not meeting key targets. For example, the Department planned to establish 1 110 public private partnerships to provide support to vulnerable groups; in this regard only 1 partnership was established.

Another instance where the Department failed to meet necessary targets was in the area of Public Education and Information. The Department planned to have 885 outreach campaigns and ended up only having 145 of them or a paltry 16%.

With certain categories of crime, especially those against women and children, on the rise it is unacceptable that the Department of Community Safety underspends and underachieves.

I will be asking the MEC of Community Safety, Sizakele Nkosi–Malobane, for reasons as to why the R30 million donation went unspent.

Donations of this nature could be used to put programmes in place that truly add value in the fight against crime.  I have been asking for years for the Department to pilot an integrated, electronic Domestic Violence Tracking System that is able to monitor repeat offenders and victims and protection orders across policing boundaries in Gauteng. It will also provide helpful information when women are killed or go missing.

The Democratic Alliance will continue to advocate for practices and policies that ensure that our communities are kept safe and rid of criminal elements.

Issued by Kate Lorimer, DA Gauteng Shadow MEC for Community Safety, 14 September 2017