JOHANNESBURG - President Cyril Ramaphosa’s national address on the government’s plans to tackle gender-based violence has left some non-profit organisations unimpressed.
Celest Louw from the Tears Foundation said Ramaphosa’s speech was nothing but a repeat of plans that have been in place for seven years but have not been addressed.
Ramaphosa announced four immediate measures to deal with gender-based violence and femicide (GBVF) in the country. Deadlines in these measures ranged from 60 days to 90 days.
READ | WATCH | Ramaphosa addresses the nation on government's GBVF response
These included a national case recovery operation into unresolved GBVF cases involving women and children, dealing with forensic backlog, ensuring women’s safety through audits, as well as intensifying enforcement of existing liquor laws and by-laws.
But Louw viewed the President as one who is disconnected from the real problems.
“Government is completely divorced from what's going on the ground. Because we can talk about these deaths and we're talking about a list of names, but that list of names isn't anywhere near the actual list of people that are dying every day.”
Louw said NGO’s working with victims of GBVF face a funding issue, but nothing is being done to address this in the same breath; victims still deal with officials who refuse to assist them in opening cases.
“People need help right now. And I can't see that anything's going to change if we've got these long timeframes…The president is saying the same thing, but I'm just going to give you 60 days,”