Women get less than Hefer

2003-11-24 15:10

Johannesburg - The government's budget for campaigns to stem violence perpetrated against women was insufficient, a group of civil society organisations said on Tuesday.

It told reporters in Johannesburg the government was spending substantial amounts of money setting up commissions of inquiry into various issues and was allocating little funds for their campaigns.

The group comprised representatives from the Gender Links, the Men's Forum, Tswaranang, the Centre for the Study of Violence and Reconciliation, the NISAA Institute for Women and the SAPS.

"Recently more money has been spent on the inquiry into spying allegations in its first few weeks than the R40m allocated this year for fighting violence against women," said Gender Links director Collen Lowe Morna, reading the group's joint statement.

"While instituting inquiries into issues like the falling of the value of the rand, the president has rejected our call to appoint an inquiry into (the) low conviction rate for sexual offences on grounds that the issues are already well known."

Experience showed that the value of the commission of inquiry was to place the spotlight on the inadequacies of the existing systems and make them function as they should.

"This is precisely what needs to happen to the criminal justice system that continues to fail women where gender justice issues are concerned," she said.

Foreign donors

Morna said where there were resources allocated by the government to address issues of gender justice, the disbursement of funds was not efficient and effective.

"Funds do not flow easily from government coffers to the people who most need it and who can implement the necessary programmes for the eradication of crimes against women and children," she said.

"Most NGO's in the gender justice field continue to rely on foreign donors for aid."

Morna criticised some amendments in the draft Sexual Offences Bill.

"It is deeply ironic, for example, that as the upcoming campaign against women gains momentum around the country, parliament is seeking to drop provisions for the post-exposure prophylaxis (PEP) from the draft legislation on grounds that this has not been costed."

She said dropping the clause underscored the deeper political issues that had characterised government's handling of the HIV/Aids.

"While the PEP is provided for in policy, current circumstances and the reality that PEP is not being adequately provided in most instances demand that this provision also be made in law," Morna said.

- SAPA