Key National Departments absent from Parliament’s GBV joint meeting while SA women continue to suffer
19 November 2019
On Tuesday, Parliament’s Portfolio Committee On Women, Youth and Persons with Disabilities hosted a joint meeting of the Committees on Social Development, Health and Police, among others, to discuss Government’s interventions to tackle the scourge of Gender-Based Violence and Femicide (GBVF). This meeting turned out to be nothing more than a sham and seemingly a tick box exercise for some of the Departments involved in addressing this serious issue within our society.
The Democratic Alliance (DA) is disappointed and angered at the Department of Women, Youth and Persons with Disabilities as they were wholly unprepared for the meeting and did not supply members of other committees with the correct documentation in order for everyone to be well equipped with the relevant information needed to address the many issues relating to GBV. Furthermore, we were left disappointed by the absence of the Department of Social Development (DSD), including the Minister herself, Lindiwe Zulu, who did not even bother to attend the meeting. DSD is a critical implementing agent of Government’s GBV policies, and their absence is a smack in the face of women and children across the country.
The shenanigans of the relevant Departments today resulted in the joint meeting being postponed for the second time and is indicative of National Government’s lack of urgency and preparedness to ensure the safety of our women and children. This is, unfortunately, a recurring practice by the Departments involved who continuously come to Parliament unprepared or with incorrect information which makes oversight incredibly difficult and frustrating.
As such, the DA will write to Deputy President David Mabuza, in his capacity as Leader of Government Business, to request he reprimand Minister Zulu and Minister of Women, Youth and Persons with Disabilities, Maite Nkoana-Mashabane.