In welcoming the announcement by President Ramaphosa in his lockdown level 1 alert speech that national government is utilising the hotspot model to identify 30 geographical concentrations of gender-based violence around the country, MPP Gillion Bosman says: “I’ve previously called on national government to adapt the Western Cape-led hotspot model for the purpose of defeating GBV, just as we have successfully done so with Covid-19 in this province.
Unfortunately, it simply will not be enough to dispense extra funding towards Thuthuzela and Khuseleka care centres, when police stations lack rape kits and, in many instances, law enforcement officers leave rape victims for hours – if not a full day – before assisting them with the first steps towards recourse in the criminal justice system.
I’ve posed parliamentary questions to the provincial Minister of Social Development, Sharna Fernandez, for clarification of any engagements between national government and the province in the implementation of the hotspot strategy for GBV. We further need to know specifically how the province feeds in to the identification of hotspots, and what additional support Pretoria will provide to the Victim Empowerment Programme, which is ultimately nationally managed and funded but administer provincially.
I have also called for a debate on the GBV pandemic at the Western Cape Provincial Parliament to draw attention to the dire urgency of this crisis.
We need institutional reforms across government departments and agencies, and we need police and the prosecutions service to work hand in glove to ensure that perpetrators are brought to book and victims are supported.”
The DA in the Western Cape continues to fight for the pandemic of gender-based violence to be defeated through every available measure.
