Minister in the Presidency for Women, Youth and People with Disabilities, Maite Nkoana-Mashabane says the Gender-Based Violence and Femicide Council will be relaunched in three months’ time.
The long-delayed Bill is currently before Parliament after Nkoana-Mashabane published it last month.
The Minister addressed stakeholders at the second Presidential Gender-Based Violence and Femicide Summit in Midrand, north of Johannesburg.
“On the Gender-Based Violence and Femicide Bill, it has been tabled in Parliament. Parliament will give us a date when the Bill will be completed, then we will develop regulations and we once again want to say, in front of our president and all South Africans, within three months, within this financial year, we can relaunch.””
Reaction to the 2nd Presidential Summit on Gender-based Violence and Femicide:
The summit aims to reflect on the work undertaken since the 2018 Summit, provide feedback and create a space for accountability in eradicating what President Cyril Ramaphosa has labelled a pandemic.
Activists at Gallagher Estate, the venue for the summit, are tearing into government officials for not doing enough for tackle gender-based violence and femicide and protect survivors
This happened just before President Cyril Ramaphosa was set to address stakeholders who gathered to find solutions to the scourge.
At the height of the COVID19, President Ramaphosa termed the scourge a pandemic as women across the country were forced to be at home due to lockdown restrictions and some having to live with their abusers.
Despite the first summit being held almost five years ago, the country still faces high levels of violence against women and children.
