NPO calls for transparency in distribution of GBVF funds, fears govt is losing battle

Non-profit organisation, #NotInMyName, is calling on government to make public its documents on how the funds it set aside to deal with Gender-Based Violence and Femicide (GBVF), through the National Strategic Plan on GBVF, have been utilised since its inception in 2019.

The NPO’s remarks come as South Africans reel over three separate GBV cases in KwaZulu-Natal and Limpopo.

In one of the cases, a police constable from Mpumalanga allegedly stabbed Yolanda Khuzwayo, his Durban Metro police officer girlfriend, who was pregnant, to death and shared videos of her dying with a knife lodged in her chest.

He appeared in court yesterday and is due back in court on the April 9th for a bail application.

In the second KZN case, a 39-year-old police sergeant was arrested after his girlfriend shared pictures of her severely bloodied face on social media.

She alleged that the office had assaulted her and when she tried to open a case against him, she was not assisted, suggesting that this might have been due to him also being an officer in that area.

The suspect will appear in the Hammersdale Magistrate’s Court on Thursday.

 

 

In Limpopo, a 45-year-old woman was shot dead by her husband during a church service at Makonde Shadani village on Saturday.

These cases come as the recent crime statistics for 2023/2024 painted a bleak picture on women’s safety in the country.

They revealed that Mzansi recorded 10 516 rapes; 1 514 cases of attempted murder, and 14 401 assaults against female victims in July, August, and September.

“#NotInMyName movement is concerned that South Africa is losing the battle against Gender-Based Violence and Femicide,” the organisation says in a statement.

In 2019, President Cyril Ramaphosa announced over R1.1 Billion additional budget allocation to fight the GBVF scourge through various interventions. Last May, Police Minister, Bheki Cele, announced that his department had been allocated R1.3 Billion to tackle such cases across the country.

#NotInMyName is, however, concerned about the secrecy over organisations that have benefitted from the funds and the work they have done to prove their efforts in overcoming the battling.

“There has been very little information, if any, that has been made public about how these allocations were distributed. #NotInMyName calls for public disclosure of how the funds were used, the beneficiary organisations and how far we are on the implementation of the National Strategic Plan,” says #NotInMyName President, Siyabulela Jentile.

He is urging South Africans to unite in fighting the scourge, which he describes as a matter of life and death.

“The fight against GBVF cannot continue to be a gig for the politically connected few and their families. We need to see changes on the ground. #NotInMyName mourns the loss of life, and calls for the harshest sentence possible for all perpetrators of GBVF.”