Hon House Chair, hon Minister, colleagues and guests, I congratulate Minister Shabangu on her appointment to the Ministry for Women. It is a challenging position as this Ministry has achieved very little during the past five years.
Some might say you have been handed a poisoned chalice, Minister, because of the problems of poor leadership and irregular and wasteful expenditure. Many members of the public clearly remember the large amounts of money spent on entertainment, lavish furniture, motor vehicles and travel, and not on the vulnerable members of our society who were most in need of support and help.
On behalf of the DA, I wish you well in your term of office and trust that you will be able to make a positive impact on this Ministry which has been beset by many challenges.
We need action and not empty words to improve the status of women, especially those in rural areas who are so often forgotten and neglected.
The DA will support your endeavours relating to the mandate, provided you put service to the nation and to women first. We are privileged to be representing and serving the people, especially the women of South Africa, and we are duty-bound to make a difference in the lives of women and future generations.
In the words of the President, the objectives of the new Ministry will be to "champion the achievement of women's socioeconomic empowerment and women's rights." It is also to strengthen and ensure the effectiveness of the National Gender Machinery.
If the Ministry is serious about upholding this objective, it will strengthen oversight and the transversal function of the Women's Ministry and co-ordinate monitoring and reporting functions with the National Planning Commission on Monitoring and Evaluation and the Department of Public Service and Administration.
The Women's Ministry must be streamlined to function within an outcomesbased approach and align the outcomes to those that unlock funding from National Treasury - but not just for jamborees. A more focused mandate for the new Ministry will advance women's economic empowerment and development in the country.
It is vital that women become part of the economy so that they are no longer dependent on their husbands or partners in an unequal position. Women must be afforded the same opportunities to create an independent lifestyle and contribute to their families' income. As the largest part of the Ministry's budget has been allocated to the Commission for Gender Equality, CGE, a Chapter 9 institution of vital importance, I will focus on some aspects of its work.
Unfortunately, the budget of the CGE happens to be the smallest of all the Chapter 9 institutions. As an institution with such a vital role in our country, this begs the question: How seriously does government take the CGE since it is not properly funded? We sincerely hope that more funds will be allocated in an effort to correct gender inequality in South Africa.
One of the strategic objectives of the CGE is to facilitate and co-ordinate the eradication of gender-based violence and promote women's empowerment.
The harsh patriarchal attitudes and demeaning gender stereotypes that are seen in our society are deeply destructive and cause great social problems. Intolerance of alternative sexual orientation needs to be eradicated. Too many lesbian women still die due to "corrective rape" being carried out by those who wish to impose their bigoted attitudes on others and force them to change their sexual orientation. Corrective rape, at its core, is due to the continuing disparagement of women in South African society. This Ministry should seek first to improve the views and treatment of women in the country if rape of any kind is going to be eradicated.
The CGE also monitors and evaluates the implementation of policies, and programmes of state or civil society that could affect gender equality. It engages in advocacy programmes aimed at raising awareness and challenging patriarchal stereotypes and also promotes gender mainstreaming and gender equality.
These ideals need to be further implemented in our country as the current statistics on rape and domestic violence make it clear that none of these initiatives have had much impact on the existing prejudices women still experience. The Ministry and portfolio committees can achieve a lot more to assist vulnerable women by interacting more and collaborating with one another and the CGE.
An issue that needs serious attention is the funding of shelters and safe houses for abused women and children. They play an important role in combating domestic violence by providing shelter and giving victims the opportunity to re-establish and equip themselves with skills that will help them to become self-sufficient and able to provide for themselves when they leave the shelter.
It is vital that government reconsiders its funding model for such institutions, which are mainly run by NGOs and faith-based organisations. Many of them are facing a financial crisis and many traumatised women and their children are turned away because there are no beds available in the shelters. They either have to return to the home of the perpetrator, and suffer retribution and face more abuse, or seek refuge on the streets.
Shelters are found mainly in towns and not in rural areas. So, what alternatives do those vulnerable people in those areas have? There are only 30 multipurpose Thuthuzela Care Centres throughout the country. Their multidisciplinary approach achieves good results but many more centres are needed to cope with the needs of our women. This is a challenge that government needs to resolve urgently.
Child maintenance is another multifaceted problem that needs urgent attention. More than 9 million children in South Africa grow up without financial or parental support. This may be due to an inability or unwillingness to pay. Some defaulters deliberately deceive or play the system, pretending that they have no funds. This needs to be eliminated by proper investigations conducted by staff who are highly trained and efficient.
Unfortunately, most maintenance courts, like the magistrates' courts, have huge backlogs due to staff shortages, so many people have to spend long hours at court awaiting their appointments. People are frequently turned away and have to return again and again, losing yet another day's leave or pay.
Some of the staff, investigators, prosecutors and magistrates need additional training to skill them in this particular facet of the law. More social workers are needed to counsel the affected families for whom this can be a terrible hardship, leaving many emotional scars. The entire maintenance court system needs to be overhauled so that it becomes more efficient and justice can be dispensed without delay.
We in the DA call upon all parents to take responsibility for the children they have brought into the world. If you make a baby, you need to take care of it for the rest of your life. Alternatively, use birth control measures, which are freely available, and don't burden yourself with an unwanted child.
Children who go through these trials and traumas often become delinquents or get involved with drug or alcohol abuse, which later leads to a life of poverty without any prospects.
The DA Women's Network has proposed that maintenance defaulters should face the full might of the law. They should be blacklisted by credit regulators and have their creditworthiness limited, as would usually happen if they did not pay their other debts.
We will be in consultation with the Department of Justice and Correctional Services, and also with the Department of Social Development, to take these needs and positive proposals forward. More maintenance investigators and maintenance officers need to be trained and deployed in order to ease the backlog in the system.
When the National Council against Gender-Based Violence, NCGBV, was established in 2012, there were great expectations amongst gender activists as it was to be led by former Deputy President, hon Motlanthe. It seemed to signal high-level political commitment to dealing with the escalating sexual abuse and violence, despite the many policies, strategies, plans and programmes which aimed to combat violence against women.
It was to be a multisectoral body bringing together stakeholders from government, business, labour and civil society to develop a common, national approach to combating the high prevalence of sexual and domestic violence. Sadly, power hunger and territorialism made this body ineffective.
Violence seems to have become socially normalised and legitimised, and there is a culture of silence and impunity surrounding perpetrators. This silence must be broken; people must be encouraged to speak out. Perpetrators must not be protected. The mindset of our society, which has itself been violated, needs to be addressed through programmes to re- establish positive values and reinforce the human rights-based constitutional values.
Positive values must be taught through life-skills programmes at schools, educare centres, clinics, churches and other organisations. Co-operation with the SA Police Service and the judiciary must be encouraged so that the low levels of prosecutions and convictions can be improved.
Support from Social Services is inadequate. There are not sufficient social workers due to inadequate funding from government. We must lobby and influence government to increase funding to bolster and strengthen support structures for families that are suffering and are under pressure, and also for the single and the child-headed households. A study conducted by the SA Medical Research Council in 2009 found that more than 56% of all murders of women were perpetrated by intimate partners, making femicide the leading cause of death for women. It is shocking to know that this occurs at a rate six times higher than that of the global average.
All responsible and caring people must strive to put the effects of our troubled past behind us to heal the wounds and scars that still exist through positive influences so that restoration can take place.
Let this new Ministry for Women act as a catalyst for action on the ground to transform the lives of women, affording them human dignity, equality and freedom from gender-based violence and stereotypes, and freeing them from prejudice and outmoded and harmful cultural practices.
Let us create a society in which all people are given the opportunity to reach their full potential as citizens of a free and democratic South Africa. I thank you.