Hon Chairperson, clearly the
R1 billion is not adequate. We considered that and we concede it now. The issue came in between budgetary periods and we have said that we will aggregate this money from all the departments in government because there is money there that can be utilised for this task. That is precisely what we will do.
However, what this then does, leads us to looking at the budgeting process through different eyes because we are facing a massive crisis of gender- based violence in our country. We need to budget in a much smarter way but utilising this R1 billion which we will be able to agglomerate from all the departments we will be able to channel it for effective use. Of course, the Western Cape is utilising it more broadly for crime fighting. We want to allocate
this amount of money for gender-based violence projects that we need to embark upon.
You are absolutely right that the ratio between population and the police is very ... we are one of the weakest in the world and that is where the real challenge for us is. We need to correct that. The Minister of Police has been raising this quite consistently and it is a matter that we are addressing right now. Will we hold our Ministers accountable? The answer is, yes. We do expect our Ministers to act in accordance with the commitments that they have made and in fact, in accordance with the plans that they have put in place and the agreements that they have also signed. So, they will be held accountable, they will be expected to act and make sure that what they have committed to is achievable.
However, at the same time all this has demonstrated the seriousness with which we need to approach this matter. I can assure everyone that we are now focussing on addressing the gender-based violence issue and we no longer view it as an issue that should be addressed by the women of our country alone. It is a broad societal matter and it is also being driven from the President's office. We will make sure that we do indeed gain some traction in this. Thank you very much.
Question 6: