POLL | Do you have faith departments will use budget for GBVF accurately?

Government departments have been urged to use the budget allocated for gender-based violence and femicide (GBVF) programmes properly.

This week the National Treasury announced it will allocate R13bn to different government departments and programmes to fight the scourge. 

The Treasury’s Ishmail Momoniat made the announcement at the presidential summit on GBVF. 

Momoniat said given the scale of GBVF, whatever the government is spending, it will “not be enough” but should be used accurately.

“The actual spending is the exercise we have to monitor on a daily basis. We need to do more to address the scourge of GBVF, as the increasing numbers of cases show that we are not doing enough,” he said.

Last year, the government announced the allocation of about R21bn over three years to implement the various components of the National Strategic Plan.

President Cyril Ramaphosa said a significant portion of the funds has been committed to advancing the empowerment of women through procurement, business support and access to economic opportunities.

Funds have also been directed to expanding support to survivors, strengthening the response of the criminal justice system and undertaking prevention programmes.

Ramaphosa said the department of planning, monitoring and evaluation has been tracking expenditure of the R21bn allocated over the medium-term.

“We need to ensure that our resources are being directed to where there is the greatest need and where they have the greatest impact,” he said.

“Last year we established a private sector-led GBVF response Fund 1, which received a commitment of R162m and has to date funded 112 grant partners.

“We must acknowledge, however, that given the demand for services to address the many different aspects of the fight against GBV, these funds are inadequate.”

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