Mpumalanga decreases Gender Based Violence outreach programmes despite increases in cases

Issued by Jane Sithole, MPL – DA Mpumalanga Spokesperson on Social Development
25 Jun 2020 in Press Releases

The Democratic Alliance (DA) has learned that the Mpumalanga government has planned to decrease gender based violence (GBV) outreach programmes despite shocking increases in such reported incidents.

According to the recent budget speech of the provincial Department of Social Development, the number of victims to be reached through prevention of GBV will decrease from 37 000 in 2019/20 to 20 000 in 2020/21. This is concerning, taking into consideration that the department’s overall budget has increased from R1.656 billion in 2019/2020 to R1.838 billion in 2020/2021.

GBV has been on the rise in Mpumalanga and in the 2018/19 financial year sexual offences increased by 8.5%. The plight of women in the province is a cause for serious concern and many women are beaten, raped or murdered by their male counterparts, especially during this nationwide lockdown. Yet the government decreases programmes to help victims of GBV.

Despite the increasing budget, the Department also plans to decrease the following programmes:

  • Number of older persons accessing community-based care services decreased from 5 893 in 2019/20 to 3 749 in 2020/21;
  • Number of persons with disabilities accessing residential facilities decreased from 651 in 2019/20 to 616 in 2020/21;
  • Number of persons with disabilities accessing services in funded protected workshops decreased from 2 290 in 2019/20 to 1 8 44 in 2020/21;
  • Number of persons with disability accessing services in funded stimulation centers decreased from 1 436 in 2019/20 to 1 401 in 2020/21; and
  • Number of family members reached through prevention programmes decreased from 12 927 in 2019/20 to 7 506 in 2020/21.

The DA is against the above decreases because children, women, the elderly, people with disabilities are mostly affected and vulnerable.

The budget and plans for the Department in the upcoming year will isolate more vulnerable communities through inadequate social outreach.

We believe that the Department has a responsibility to ensure that the vulnerable are protected from all forms of hardships and given the above, we will write to the office of MEC Thandi Shongwe asking her to acknowledge the plight of women in our province. There need to be more programmes that focus on empowering women who have been victims of gender-based crimes as well as preventative programmes in place.