Durban — Independent activists against gender-based violence and femicide (GBVF) have voiced their concerns about the proposed long-awaited national council gender-based violence bill published by Parliament for public comment at the Durban City Hall on Wednesday.
The meeting, co-ordinated by the KZN Network on GBVF, included academia and community-based organisations. Delegates raised concerns about how the Department of Women, Youth and Persons Living with Disabilities continued to ignore inputs by the various stakeholders through previous calls, for input and during the Presidency Summit 2, which was presented as a platform for the government to engage with civil society and all stakeholders on accountability.
Concerns raised included the bill’s failure to provide clarity on how the GBVF Fund would be resourced, eligibility for funding, and accountability mechanisms.
Activists claim the current bill does not seem adequate to serve as a backbone for the formulation of legislation that will advance the implementation of the National Strategy against GBVF as initially envisaged.
Activists claim the government is aiming at passing the bill before the end of the year, but has lobbied civil society to make recommendations, written, recorded or telephonically, for it to make amendments to the bill before it is passed.
“Will the people living with disability be taken into recognition when this bill is passed?” they asked.
They said their aim was to keep the council that will be regulating this bill as diverse as possible.
“We need to be the watchdogs of our country, our laws and our people,” said university community representative Dr Gabi Mkhize of UKZN.
UKZN’s Dr Liberty Mambondiani said the bill was not intended to filter down to the masses, the very people that will be affected by it.
“This bill, in its current form, is only clear on the side that represents the government, but when it comes to the people on the ground, those that will be affected by it, it is not clearly delineated,” Mambondiani added.
Activists also decried the nomination criteria the bill entails, saying the membership its council would be made of is not representative enough for those people who will be touched by it, adding that this number would be “very small”. Activists appealed to the lawmakers to increase the number of board members so everybody was represented.
Activists also requested the number of civic society representatives be raised from seven to at least nine, which would be equal representation for the nine provinces of the country.
They appealed for the inclusion of men in all that the government does around the issues affecting women and children, saying inclusion of men in the fight against GBVF would make the work of the organisations fighting the scourge lighter and easier.
Activists said farmworkers and people who live in rural areas must have their voices heard, because this part of society had been “forgotten”, especially widows who find themselves being pushed onto the fringes of society, because they are in mourning for their husbands, and are therefore shunned by society.
Activists further said the minister, in consultation with the board, the premier and the mayor, must decide when the government representatives would consult with the stakeholders and all those representing the society “at a societal level”.
The bill must talk to the provincial council as well, and not only to the national council, they stressed.
Civic society organisations said shelters were needed to be a bigger part of the fight against GBVF, adding that caregivers must be hired and the government must finance their salaries. The organisations were also requested to organise themselves and speak with one voice in fighting the scourge.
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