Annual Report: adoption

Annual report (see Appendix)

This meeting was not minuted. The committee made a few changes to the working draft and finalised the report.

Appendix: Annual report

PARLIAMENTARY JOINT STANDING COMMITTEE ON THE IMPROVEMENT THE QUALITY OF LIFE & STATUS OF WOMEN

Second Annual Report

January 1998 - March 1999

CONTENTS

Introduction

The Committee

Violence Against Women

Domestic Violence

Sexual Offences

Sexual Offences Guidelines

Sexual Harassment Code

NCPS Victim Empowerment Business Plan

Departmental budgets

Justice

Maintenance

Customary law

Legal Aid

Family Courts

Equality Legislation

Religious Marriages

Training

Gender Unit

Employment

Employment Equity

Maternity Benefits

Presidential Job Summit

Trade and Industry

Finance

Welfare

Education

National Machinery

Office on the Status of Women

Commission on Gender Equality

Joint Publication on Women and Parliament

Elections

Appendixes

A: Legislative, Policy and Budgetary Priorities for 1998

B: List of members of the Committee

C: Job Summit Agreement on Women

D: Budget Review Case Studies 1999

E: Gender Election Checklist

Reports

The following reports tabled in1998 are available on the internet at womensnet.org.za. Copies can be requested from the Committee Clerk, Gadija Abdullatief at 403-3831.

A: Government’s Implementation of CEDAW and the Beijing Platform for Action

B: Women, the Budget and the Economy

C: Violence against women hearings

D: The Employment Equity Bill: a gender analysis

INTRODUCTION

The Joint Standing Committee on the Improvement of the Quality of Life and Status of Women tables its Annual Report at the end of the first democratically elected parliament. This report covers the work the Committee has done in 1998 and in February and March 1999.

The Committee’s brief was to monitor and oversee progress with regard to the improvement in the quality of life and status of women in South Africa, with specific reference to the government’s commitments to the Beijing Platform for Action, and with regard to the implementation of the provisions of the Convention on the Elimination of all Forms of Discrimination against Women (CEDAW).

The Committee’s focus is on those changes which would target the women who are the majority of the poorest and those who have carried and continue to carry the burden of care in our society.

The challenge which faced the Committee was how to manage such a broad brief with very limited resources. The Committee was initially established as an ad-hoc committee and thus shared a pool budget with other such committees. It did not have its own independent budget as other parliamentary committees do. Whilst it was established in June 1998 as a Joint standing Committee it will only have a full budget in the next financial year, when the next parliament is established after the elections in June 1999. The Committee was allocated a researcher and its own committee clerk for the first time in 1998.

The Committee has been able to be effective by prioritising which changes to laws, policies, budgets and institutions were most strategic to improving women’s lives and to focus on these. Each year the Committee adopted a clear programme of action to guide its work. In May 1998 the Committee adopted a number of changes to the budget, legislation and policy as priorities for women in 1998. (see annexure "A" )

The Committee sent the document to a range of women’s organisations and networks for circulation to their member organisations. The Committee has through all its work (within resource constraints) benefited from the interaction with and support from many women’s organisations in civil society and with the Commission on Gender Equality, the Office on the Status of Women and the Gender Focal Points in all spheres of government. The priority document was also sent to all Members of Parliament, Chairs of Committees, Presiding Officers, Ministers, Deputy Ministers, the Deputy President and President of our country. The feedback received was broad agreement on these priority issues.

By the end of 1998 most of the priorities identified had been effected by parliament and government. This was a victory for the women of our country. It was also a reflection of the political will of the first democratically elected parliament and government to use power to address the issues that had disempowered women under apartheid, ranging from access to land and water to domestic violence.

Some of the key legislative changes still required are in relation to: equality legislation, sexual offences, customary law of succession, extending the Unemployment Insurance Act to cover domestic workers on maternity, recognition of religious marriages, access to Legal Aid and finalisation of the regulations to the Domestic Violence, Maintenance and Customary Law Acts.

Legislative changes in these areas will need to be focused on by the Committee after the elections. The Committee researcher will work on the necessary background research on these areas during the recess for the incoming committee.

However, whilst there is broad agreement that at the legislative and constitutional level South Africa has made enormous advances, the major challenges ahead centre on the issues of information, implementation and changing mindsets and attitudes. Women need to know that they now have these rights, how to access them and what to do if they are denied any of these rights. Thus those tasked with implementation can not continue to focus only on those who have always had access to rights and benefits, whilst excluding those who were previously denied access.

Resources are critical to implementing the excellent constitutional, legislative and policy commitments of the first democratic government. The Committee has thus focused a great deal of energy in working with and monitoring the Finance Ministry to ensure a gender perspective through necessary data, analytical tools and capacity being developed within the Ministry and in all of government’s work.

The Committee has also continued to be an active partner in the Women’s Budget Initiative. (with Case and Idasa) In the 1998 Budget Review and the 1999 National Expenditure Survey, significant gender analysis and commitment is reflected in areas as diverse as Trade and Industry, Public Works, Land, Water and Welfare.

Another key focus has been on the horrific violence which women face, in their homes and in society. The Committee has worked to ensure progress on the domestic violence legislation which was passed in 1998. The Committee will continue to monitor progress on the sexual offences legislation. The Sexual Harassment Code has now also been gazetted and will go a long way to protecting women in the workplace against such harassment.

Most women in South Africa, namely women married under customary law were reduced to minors under apartheid, could not own property, enter into contracts or legally represent themselves. The Committee prioritised changes to the customary law on marriage and succession. The Recognition of Customary Marriages Bill was passed by parliament in 1998 and the Amendment of Customary Law of Succession Bill is presently being scrutinised through the South African Law Commission process before it is tabled in parliament.

These laws which specifically target women hold significant potential to improve women’s lives in these areas. The other area of the Committee’s work has been to focus on other pieces of legislation which pass through parliament to ensure that they impact positively on women’s lives. With limited capacity, we have targeted what we have considered critical pieces. The Committee operates on the assumption and with the confidence that in almost every committee in parliament and in almost every ministry women and some committed men are working towards the same objective. Thus the Committee has engaged various ministries, for example, the Labour Ministry on the Employment Equity Bill and the Land Ministry on the Land Bills.

The process of monitoring government departments on CEDAW and Beijing was also an opportunity not just to monitor changes to policies, legislation, budgets and institutions, but to engage and share good practices from one department with another.

In the course of the last five years I have addressed countless workshops and conferences hosted by civil society organisations, ministries and departments at national, provincial as well as local level. These have provided an opportunity to share the work the Committee and Parliament is engaged in as well as good practice models whether on the budget, legislation, codes, institutional change or training. These interactions have also been extremely useful in getting important feedback on what the Committee and Parliament should be focusing on.

The issue of changing the mindset and attitudes of all those who are tasked with implementing the laws, for example judges and magistrates is always raised in these meetings. Important initiatives, for example developing guidelines and running training programmes are being undertaken and some of these are outlined in the section on the Justice Ministry. While such training is crucial, change will depend on each institution in society. The media, the religious organisations, the educational institutions, business, the NGO’s, community organisations and trade unions each have to take responsibility for ensuring they address the beliefs and practices they hold which continue to oppress or exploit women.

The Committee has benefited enormously from its committed membership, each of whose contribution was invaluable. The Committee has also enjoyed the support of the Parliamentary Women’s Group and the ANC Women’s Caucus led by the Convenor, Ms Nozizwe Madlala- Routledge. It has also had support for the issues from many MP’s, chairpersons of committees, especially the chairs of Justice and Finance, Johnny de Lange and Sipho Mphalwa, with whom we worked very closely on the Justice bills and the budget, Ministers and their Deputies.

Innumerable meetings which took place outside the Committee were crucial to ensuring progress in our formal Committee meetings. The Committee has also been extremely fortunate to benefit from a generation of women leaders of the calibre of Albertina Sisulu, Gertrude Shope, Mita Seperere, Mako Njobe, Lydia Kompe, Lizzie Abrahams, Sister Bernard Ncube, Ellen Kuzwayo, Bertha Gxowa, Ivy Gcina, Winkie Direko, Ela Gandhi, Ncowaka Lamani, Bongi Ntuli and the late Dorothy Nyembe who often attended and participated in Committee meetings.

The Committee has had the invaluable contribution of Coriaan de Villiers a researcher from February 1998, reflected in the calibre of Committee reports, which I have had the pleasure to edit.

The Committee clerk, Gadija Abdullatief has ensured more than efficient administrative backup from Committee Section and hopefully the next committee will benefit from her abilities.

I would also like to thank Kim Davids and before her Cecilia Petersen, who is now in the Office of the Chair of the Caucus. After sharing the services of one secretary with about 60 other MP’s, I was assigned the services of one secretary on becoming the chair of the Committee. First Cecilia and now Kim have often had to deal with calls from people who thought the Committee was the Gender Commission or that the Committee had a whole department and large well staffed "offices"!

There are many MP’s who have requested copies of our report for their work in constituencies. The Committee has ensured that all its reports are posted on the internet at womensnet.org.za.

which I believe many women’s organisations are now accessing.

It has been a privilege and an honour to serve the women of our country as chair of the Committee in the first democratically elected parliament.

This report as well as past reports of the Committee will hopefully be used to reflect on some of the lessons for the new parliament and the next committee in terms of the experience of these past five years and in taking forward this democratic government’s commitment to improving the lives of the poorest women in our country.

Pregs Govender

Chairperson

THE COMMITTEE

Establishment of the Committee

The Committee was established on 21 August 1996 as the Ad-Hoc Joint Committee on the Improvement of the Quality of Life and Status of Women. Its mandate was to monitor and oversee progress with regard to the improvement in the quality of life and status of women in South Africa, with specific reference to the government’s commitments to the Beijing Platform for Action, and with regard to the implementation of the provisions of the Convention on the Elimination of all Forms of Discrimination against Women (CEDAW).

One of the weaknesses in the method of work of the Committee that was identified in its 1996/97 Annual Report was its status as an ad-hoc Parliamentary Committee. This status led to the perception that the Committee had less powers than a standing committee. The Committee’s activities were also restricted by the lack of a budget, full time committee clerk and researcher. During 1997 the Committee recommended that it be constituted as a permanent standing Committee of Parliament.

Permanent Status

In November 1997 both houses of Parliament adopted a recommendation by the Joint Rules Committee that a Joint Standing Committee on the Improvement of the Quality of Life and Status of Women be established.

In June 1998 both houses of Parliament resolved that the Joint Committee -

* consists of 20 members as follows: Anc,11; NP, 3: IFP, 2; DP,1; PAC,1; ACDP,1:

* elects one of its members as chairperson;

* be mandated to monitor and oversee progress with regard to the improvement in the quality of life and status of women in South Africa, with specific reference to the government’s commitments to the Beijing Platform for Action, and with regard to the implementation of the provisions of the Convention on the Elimination of all Forms of Discrimination against Women (CEDAW); and

* has the power to take evidence and call for papers.

Election of Chairperson and appointed membership of the Committee

On 5 August 1998 Ms Pregs Govender was re-elected to chair the Joint Standing Committee on the Improvement of the Quality of Life and Status of Women. A list of members of the Committee is attached to the report as annexure "B". Parties who have failed to attend meetings are the Freedom Front, the Pan African Congress and the African Christian Democratic Party.

Staff and budget of the Committee

In February 1998 the Committee appointed Coriaan de Villiers as a researcher to the Committee. The Committee clerk is Gadija Abdullatief. The budget for 1998 was R50 000, the budget of an ad-hoc committee. As a standing committee, the Committee will receive an increased budget in the forthcoming year

VIOLENCE AGAINST WOMEN

During 1997 and in May 1998 the Committee held joint public hearings with the Justice Portfolio Committee on Violence against Women. A report of the hearings was tabled before Parliament in June 1998. Certain of the issues raised in the tabled report were identified by the Committee as priorities for 1998.

Domestic Violence Bill

Steps taken by the Committee

* Ensuring tabling of the bill in 1998

The Committee identified that a South African Law Commission (SALC) project on Domestic Violence was nearing completion. The aim of the project was to introduce a Domestic Violence Bill which would repeal and replace the Prevention of Family Violence Act of 1993.

The SALC released both issue and discussion papers on the project for public comment and various consultative workshops were held. At the hearings held in Parliament, many organisations presented the submissions they had made to the SALC. Organisations called for the urgent tabling of the anticipated legislation.

Arising from its process, the SALC had finalised a draft Domestic Violence Bill early in 1998. It appeared that the SALC was intending to host a further series of workshops on the draft bill.

The Committee was concerned that such a series of further workshops would result in the bill not being tabled before Parliament during 1998. The Committee was of the view that an opportunity for consultation and comment on the bill would be provided by public hearings in Parliament.

The Committee addressed correspondence to the South African Law Commission and the Ministry of Justice indicating that the Committee had identified the need for the bill to be introduced and passed during 1998 and requesting an indication of the timeframes for the tabling of the bill.

The Domestic Violence Bill (B75 - 98) was tabled before Parliament during the mid-year recess.

* Joint public hearings and deliberations with the Justice Portfolio Committee

The various shortcomings with the Prevention of Family Violence Act 1993 are highlighted in the Committee report tabled before Parliament in June 1998. The bill as introduced addressed many of the concerns that had been raised by women’s organisations in the earlier hearings held on violence against women.

The Committee held joint public hearings with the Justice Portfolio Committee on the Domestic Violence Bill on 18 and 19 August 1998. During the hearings a number of further issues were raised for consideration by the Committees. The Justice Committee had identified a number of potential constitutional problems with the bill which were canvassed with relevant organisations.

The Committee discussed and deliberated on the bill, assisted by a background document on some of the constitutional aspects raised by the bill, which was prepared by the Committee researcher.

Various amendments were made to the bill to accommodate constitutional concerns and in certain areas to strengthen the provisions of the bill. The Committees held extensive deliberations on the bill which was passed by Parliament on 6 November 1998.

Key provisions of the Domestic Violence Act of 1998

The act provides that any person who has been in a domestic relationship can apply for a protection order. The definition of domestic relationship is wide and includes, amongst others, parties who were or are married according to any law, custom or marriage, parties either of the same or opposite sex who live or lived together in a relationship in the nature of marriage, parents of a child, family members and parties who share or recently shared the same household or residence.

The definition of domestic violence is wide and includes: physical abuse or threat of physical abuse, sexual abuse or a threat of sexual abuse, emotional, verbal and psychological abuse, economic abuse, intimidation, harassment, stalking, damage to or destruction of property or entry into the applicant’s residence without consent. Many of these terms are also defined in the act.

The list of behaviour that constitutes domestic violence is not closed; the act provides that domestic violence includes any other controlling or abusive behaviour towards a complainant that harms, or may cause imminent harm, to the health, safety or well-being of the complainant.

The complainant can apply to the magistrate’s court for a protection order. The court can make various different orders, depending on the protection that is required. The court may for example, prohibit the respondent from committing any act of domestic violence, entering the shared household and entering the complainant’s residence. The court can also impose additional conditions.

Breach of any terms of the order is a criminal offence and the respondent will be prosecuted in the criminal courts. The perpetrator is liable for a fine or imprisonment for a period not exceeding 5 years or to both a fine and imprisonment.

The act places a positive duty on members of the South African Police Service (SAPS) to render assistance to a complainant at the scene of domestic violence including assisting or making arrangements for the complainant to find a suitable shelter and to obtain medical treatment.

The act introduces innovative measures to ensure that the relevant organs of state give full effect to the provisions of the act. In relation to the prosecuting authority, no prosecutor shall refuse to institute a prosecution or withdraw a charge of breaching a protection order without authorisation by a Director of Public Prosecutions. The National Director of Public Prosecutions is required to determine prosecution policy and issue policy directives regarding any offence arising from an incident of domestic violence.

The National Commissioner of the South African Police Service must issue national instructions with which its members must comply in the execution of their functions in terms of the act. The instructions must be published in the government gazette.

Failure by a member of the SAPS to comply with the obligations imposed in terms of the act or the national instructions constitutes misconduct. The Independent Complaints Directorate (ICD) must be informed of any such failure by a member of the SAPS.

The act places an obligation on the SAPS to institute disciplinary proceedings in such circumstances, unless the ICD directs otherwise.

The act requires the ICD and the National Commissioner of the SAPS to report to Parliament every six months. The ICD is to report on the number and particulars of matters reported to it and the recommendations made. The SAPS must report on the number and particulars of complaints received.

At briefings to the Committee on 9 and 16 March 1999 the Minister and Deputy Minister of Justice advised as follows:

Draft regulations to the Domestic Violence Act of 1998 have been finalised. Consultation is taking place both within the framework of the NCPS and within the department’s consultation processes. A broader consultative workshop will be scheduled if necessary.

A meeting was held with the NCPS partners, the departments of Health, Welfare, Justice and SAPS on 18 March 1999. The SAPS national instructions required by the act can only be drafted once the regulations have been finalised. Training of all the service providers will only be able to take place in a focused manner once the regulations and SAPS national instructions are available.

The first of July has been set as a tentative date for commencement. The legislation requires the regulations to be gazetted in parliament. This may lead to delays in finalisation as Parliament may not be in session until August 1999.

The department requested the treasury for funds to implement the bills prior to the bills being passed through Parliament and gazetted. The treasury indicated that money could not be allocated prior to the passing of legislation. The amounts that have been allocated by the department for the implementation of the legislation have been drawn from its policy reserves.

An amount of R2 million has been budgeted for the initial period, which will be used for the service of court documents and interdicts.

The department wishes to ensure sufficient training, co-operation within the NCPS, publicity and readily available interdict application forms.

Priorities and further steps to be taken

The act must come into force as soon as possible.

The prescribed forms which parties will fill in to obtain an interdict must be user-friendly and written in a language that is easily understandable.

The Committee will request that the SAPS and National Director of Public Prosecutions to table the national instructions and policy guidelines before Parliament as required.

The resolution tabled by the Justice Portfolio Committee requires the Justice department to:

Table a document in Parliament within six months of the passing of the bill detailing the steps taken with a view to implementation of the legislation.

Investigate the desirability of creating an offence of domestic violence, including other offences that arise out of domestic violence situations such as stalking, harassment and certain forms of intimidation. A report of the investigation must be tabled before Parliament within six months after the commencement of the legislation.

Sexual Offences

* SALC investigation

The Committee identified the need to introduce comprehensive sexual assault legislation. Such legislation would broaden the definition of rape, reform discriminatory rules of evidence and deal with broader issues relating to sexual offences.

The Committee noted that the SALC had a project on Sexual Offences Against Children. The Committee chairperson addressed correspondence to the Justice Ministry in June 1998 enquiring whether sexual offences legislation affecting adults would be tabled during 1998.

Following the correspondence, the Committee chairperson met with representatives from the Justice Department and the SALC. It was agreed that the SALC would broaden its investigation on sexual offences to include women and that the SALC would attempt to table the legislation by February 1999.

* Briefing by Rape Crisis, UWC Community Law Centre and Institute of Criminology (UCT)

The Committee was briefed by Ms Bronwyn Pithey from Rape Crisis and Ms Helene Combrinck from the UWC Community Law Centre. The key issues raised were the following:

Amendment of the definition of "rape" : the definition of rape in its present form excludes a wide range of perpetrators, victims and actions. This exclusion does not imply that perpetrators will necessarily go unpunished, but the definition can be criticised on a number of levels. An examination of the definition of rape should receive attention as a matter of urgency.

The cautionary rule applied in rape cases: it can be argued that the recent Supreme Court of Appeals judgement in Jackson v the State has not abolished the cautionary rule in its entirety. It is proposed that legislation be passed to effectively achieve this.

Rule of evidence regarding "first report" : there is concern about the way in which the admission of the victim's "previous consistent statement" in sexual assault cases is handled. A negative inference may be drawn from the complainant's failure to speak to anyone about the sexual assault before a formal charge is laid. The concern is linked to the general concern about the focus in sexual violence cases on the "character" (or "credibility") of the victim rather than on the events which led to laying a charge against someone for rape. In a 1985 SALC report on Sexual Offences a suggestion is made that "legislation should lay down that absence of a complaint or a related complaint may not be used to cast doubt on the complainant's credibility".

Admissibility of evidence relating to previous sexual history of a complainant : the general criterion for the admissibility of evidence in trials is relevance. Traditionally prior sexual conduct is believed to be relevant to credibility and consent in rape cases. This implies that a woman who has previously engaged in sexual activity is more likely to consent to sexual activity on any other occasion. This evidentiary rule is used to attack the complainant's credibility and character. A more specific test should be formulated to determine relevance.

Expert evidence: service provision organisations have noted concern about the reluctance of prosecutors to make use of expert evidence to strengthen the State’s case (relating to the merits of the case as well as sentence). In addition, presiding officers often hesitate to recognise counsellors with appropriate experience as experts in the area of, for instance, Rape Trauma Syndrome.

Representation of sexual assault survivors in criminal trials : a survivor of sexual assault who appears as a witness in a criminal trial is not regarded as a party to the dispute, and hence she is not entitled to legal representation. It is assumed that her interests will be protected by the prosecutor. An alternative should be examined, in terms of which a rape survivor may be allowed representation (for instance, by trained para-legals) for the purposes of the criminal trial.

Prohibition of publication of information relating to identity of complainant : the provisions of the Criminal Procedure Act (CPA) are not implemented properly by the courts or by the press. The wishes of the complainant are not considered in the implementation of the sections. The name of the complainant is not the only means of identification, hence the need for a broader implementation of current legislation regarding the identification of the complainant. A complainant could also be identified by means of her place of residence or employment, age, or occupation. An example would be a magistrate commenting that the complainant lived in area X. Another example would be the press mentioning that a 35 year old doctor from a particular shift had allegedly been raped after returning home from a night shift on X.

Circumstances in which criminal proceedings shall not take place in open court: the CPA provides that in criminal proceedings relating to a charge of any indecent act, the court may, at the request of the victim, direct that any person whose presence is not necessary or any person mentioned in the request, shall be excluded from the proceedings. There is no requirement that the court should be satisfied that harm would result to the victim if such persons remain present - yet presiding officers often require an indication of potential harm or distress before allowing this exclusion. In addition, prosecutors often fail to inform victims of the possibility of making such a request.

Although the section of the CPA explicitly provides for the exclusion of persons unless the witness requests otherwise (section 153(3A)), experience has taught that prosecutors seldom inform rape survivors of this option with the result that family members or counsellors of victims are also excluded. In addition, presiding officers are reluctant to allow these requests because of an (incorrect) assumption that section 153(3) implies a "blanket" exclusion.

Compensation under the CPA is limited to damage or loss of property. In the case of convictions arising from sexual assault, victims often suffer damage which is not restricted to this narrow category.

Statutory complaints mechanisms: it has been shown that present avenues of recourse are not sufficient to deal with the specific needs of sexual assault survivors who experience secondary victimisation within the criminal justice system. It is necessary to examine the maximum utilisation of existing statutory mechanisms to oversee complaints and accountability procedures.

Training of judicial officers: the training of judicial officers (including magistrates, judges and prosecutors) is crucial to the transformation of the criminal justice system and specifically its approach to sexual assault survivors. In particular, concerns are the development of training courses; the contents of training courses; and the fact that attendance of training courses is not mandatory at the point of entry into the profession.

Bail and sentencing: amendments to the Criminal Procedure Act were passed in order to tighten provisions regarding bail in serious offences. The implementation of such legislation must be considered carefully (the current position regarding inexperienced investigating officers and prosecutors and gender-insensitive members of the judiciary will not be addressed by legislative amendments ). Legislation has recently been passed regarding minimum sentences. Concern once again involves implementation of these.

At briefings to the Committee on 9 and 16 March 1999 the Minister and Deputy Minister of Justice advised as follows:

The SALC discussion document together with draft legislation on Sexual Offences is anticipated by September 1999 and the SALC final report, after consultation, by February 2 000.

Sexual Offences Guidelines

During 1997 guidelines for all role-players, for example the police, magistrates and health personnel dealing with sexual offences were developed. The Committee identified the need for wide dissemination of the guidelines and extensive training for all the role-players. There is also a need to explore the possibility of introducing codes of conduct and disciplinary action for non-compliance with the guidelines.

It came to the attention of the Committee that only 200 copies of the guidelines were initially disseminated. The Committee raised concerns with the Ministry in this regard. The Ministry subsequently raised donor funding to ensure sufficient numbers of copies of the document were printed .

Sexual Harassment Code

The Committee identified that a Code on Sexual Harassment in the workplace was being developed at NEDLAC. The Committee was advised that the Code would be used under the current Labour Relations Act and the proposed Employment Equity legislation and would deal with aspects such as the definition of sexual harassment.

Steps taken by the Committee

The Committee called for the Code to be finalised and gazetted during 1998.

The Committee addressed a letter to NEDLAC in May 1998 enquiring as to the timeframes for finalisation of the codes. NEDLAC forwarded a copy of the Code to the Committee which was subsequently gazetted and appended to the Labour Relations Act of 1995.

NCPS Victim Empowerment Business Plan

The Committee noted that a National Crime Prevention Strategy (NCPS) Victim Empowerment Business Plan was being drafted, which would include policies on Compensation for Victims for Crime (including proposals for the administration of a South African Compensation Fund for Victims of crime), a South African Victim Charter and an integrated Victim Policy Framework and Model for Victim Empowerment in South Africa.

The Committee identified a need to ensure that the plan was drafted, finalised and implemented in a way which would address the needs of women victims of crime.

The Committee chair addressed a letter to the Minister of Welfare in May 1998 requesting a report on its programme in relation to violence against women. As part of its report the department forwarded to the Committee a copy of the Victim Empowerment Programme. (VEP)

In 1999 the Committee requested the Minister of Welfare to address the Committee on various issues, including the implementation of the VEP.

The Minister advised as follows:

The department is the leading partner in the VEP, which is an initiative of the NCPS. A victim charter is being drafted by the SALC. In the Orange Free State, Gauteng and Northern Cape 24 hour service centres have been established, some of which are run jointly with NICRO and staffed by volunteers. Other aspects of the VEP include reparations and counselling.

Departmental budgets to combat violence against women

Violence against Women has been declared a priority crime in terms of the NCPS. Previously priority crimes have received specific budgetary allocations. It would appear that there has not been such an allocation to violence against women. Departments such as Safety and Security do not have specific, separate budgetary allocations for violence against women. Many community assistance centres and shelters for battered women do not have funding.

The Committee recommends that resources urgently be made available to address violence against women as a priority area. It is unclear why priority crimes such as hijacking have a separate budget whilst the priority crime of violence against women does not.

Steps taken by the Committee

In May 1998 the Committee chair addressed correspondence to the Ministers of Justice, Safety and Security and Welfare. The letters noted that specific budgetary allocations to combat violence against women are not reflected in the Estimates of Income or Expenditure or the Medium Term Economic Framework. Ministers were asked to outline programmes in relation to violence against women and to detail the corresponding budgetary allocations to finance the programmes.

The Committee received a response from the department of Welfare which noted:

Programmes to address violence against women form an integral part of other national programmes.

The Victim Empowerment Programme has secured 4 million for implementation on national, provincial and local level. The direct beneficiaries of the programme are victims of crime and violence, including women. Women are a priority in the programme.

A key source for financing of programmes addressing violence against women would come from the draft policy for the financing of developmental social welfare services. Relevant services would be financed in terms of the new policy. Welfare departments and NGO’s working in the field of violence against women would be required to plan appropriate services in partnership with each other.

The department has formed a partnership with the National Network on Violence against Women. For the 1998 year the network received R20 000 from the department.

The Ministry of Justice had been requested at the end of 1997 to furnish a report on its programme to combat violence against women, which was received by the Committee.

Further Department of Justice initiatives

At briefings before the Committee on 9 and 16 March 1999 the following further activities were highlighted:

Activities of the department have included a conference of commitments, drawing together national departments to implement the SADC declaration on violence against women. With funding assistance from Denmark, a training manual on violence against women has been developed. The manual was launched on 24 November 1998. The manual is used to train all the Justice service providers including magistrates. There is a need for decentralisation of training from Justice College. A great concern of the CEDAW United Nations expert committee was that South Africa does not have a well co-ordinated plan to combat violence against women.

JUSTICE

Maintenance Bill

Steps taken by the Committee

* Ensuring tabling of the bill in 1998

The Committee noted that the SALC has a project considering the review of the entire maintenance system. This process was in its initial stages and would not be completed during the course of 1998.

During 1997 the department of Justice drafted a Maintenance Consultation document, together with a draft bill, seeking to introduce interim, urgent amendments to the existing system, pending the recommendations of the SALC on overhauling the entire system.

The Committee discussed the contents of the bill, assisted by a briefing and background document from the Committee researcher.

The Committee noted that the suggested amendments would go a long way to alleviating the problems women face in recovering maintenance. The Committee chair addressed correspondence to the Justice Ministry requesting an indication of when the bill would be placed before Parliament.

The bill was tabled in the 1998 mid-year recess.

* Joint public hearings and deliberations with the Justice Portfolio Committee

On 18 and 19 August 1998 the Committee held joint public hearings with the Justice Portfolio Committee. The Committees introduced various amendments arising out of the submissions made by various organisations and held extensive deliberations on the bill. The bill was passed by Parliament on 4 November 1998.

Key issues and provisions of the Maintenance Act of 1998

One of the key problems which women face in recovering maintenance is securing the attendance of the respondent at court. Respondents often evade service of court documents. Where service is successful, they frequently ignore subpoenas calling on them to appear at court. The result is that many women eventually abandon the attempt to recover maintenance.

The Maintenance Act introduces two mechanisms to alleviate these problems. In relation to evasion of service, the act provides for the appointment of dedicated maintenance investigators. The maintenance investigators will have the power to serve court documents and trace respondents. If a subpoena has been served and the respondent does not appear on the hearing date, the court can make an order in the respondent’s absence.

There are often problems at a court enquiry with determining the respondent’s full financial position. The maintenance investigators have the power to gather information concerning the financial position of both parties to ensure that all the relevant information is placed before the court.

The act also seeks to address the difficulties experienced in enforcing compliance with maintenance orders. The act provides that, when the order for maintenance is made, the court can order an employer to deduct maintenance from a respondent’s salary. As the law stands, the respondent must be criminally convicted of non-payment of maintenance before such an order can be issued.

A further innovation is the introduction of procedures which allow for a warrant of execution to be issued in respect of maintenance orders. These amendments will go a long way to ensuring that many more women actually receive maintenance.

At briefings to the Committee on 9 and 16 March 1999 the Minister and Deputy Minister of Justice advised as follows:

Guidelines for regulations to the Maintenance Act have been finalised. Consultation on the regulations will take place with role-players.

The department estimated that it required approximately R18,5 million to implement the legislation. It has allocated a sum of R5 million. The amount has been drawn from reprioritisation within the department. The bulk of the funds will be utilised to appoint maintenance investigators. There are not sufficient funds to appoint maintenance investigators for every magistrate’s court. Appointments will first be made in the major centres: Johannesburg, Mitchell’s Plain, Durban, Port Elizabeth and Cape Town. A meeting will be held to finalise policy around the appointment of maintenance investigators, such as how many will be appointed and in which areas. In areas where maintenance investigators are not appointed, the duties can be fulfilled by maintenance officers.

There are also other important mechanisms in the act which do not require additional resources for implementation.

It is envisaged that the regulations will be finalised at the beginning of April and will thereafter be submitted to role-players for consideration and comment.

Training is key to the implementation of the act and will be engaged in once the regulations have been finalised. There are also plans for a communication strategy including press releases.

An audit of practical problems in relation to maintenance has been done by the department.

Problems include jurisdictional boundaries inherited from the previous regime. Towards implementation the department has engaged in educational programmes since mid-1998, has sent out pamphlets on the legislation, and has made progress towards automated payments of maintenance.

Further priorities and steps to be taken

The legislation will not come into force until the regulations have been drafted. The act requires that the regulations must be submitted to Parliament before being placed in the gazette. The regulations should be tabled as soon as possible.

Many issues were raised by organisations that need to be addressed by the SALC in its investigation reviewing the entire maintenance system. The Committee looks forward to receiving the SALC recommendations.

The Justice Portfolio Committee raised various issues to be addressed by the Justice Ministry in its 1998 resolution on the Maintenance Bill which include the following:

The Committee noted that organisations highlighted the lack of experience and knowledge as well as commitment of maintenance officers. The Committee requested the Ministry and department of Justice to take steps to direct that the National Director of Public Prosecutions in conjunction with Justice College make every effort to ensure that a specialised pool of expertise is built up and maintained. The Committee urged that career opportunities be created for the important post of maintenance officer.

The Committee requested the Department of Justice to report back on all aspects of the resolution within six months of the date of the resolution.

Customary Law

Recognition of Customary Marriages

Steps taken by the Committee

* Ensuring tabling of the bill in 1998

The Committee noted that the SALC had a project on the Harmonisation of Indigenous law and Common law. One aspect of this project is in respect of marriage. The SALC anticipated releasing its final report, together with a draft bill on the recognition of customary marriages to Cabinet in June 1998. The Committee called for a commitment to "fast track" the introduction of the bill to Parliament to ensure that it would be passed during 1998.

The Committee chair addressed correspondence to the Justice Ministry, the SALC and the state law adviser to ensure that the bill would be tabled during 1998.

The bill was tabled in the 1998 mid-year recess.

* Workshop on Recognition of Customary Marriages

On 20 May 1998 the Committee hosted a workshop in Parliament on the draft SALC Recognition of Customary Marriages Bill. The Committee invited professor Thandabantu Nhlapho from the SALC and Likhapha Mbatha from the Centre for Applied Legal Studies to provide inputs to the Committee. Various aspects of the bill were thoroughly canvassed and debated amongst the Members.

* Pamphlet on Reviewing African Customary Law of Marriage

The Committee produced a pamphlet on Reviewing African Customary Law of Marriage to stimulate debate on the various issues prior to introduction of the bill. The pamphlet covered the following areas:

minority status of women under customary law,

the lack of capacity of women married under customary law to own property,

the role of lobola in formalising marriage,

whether polygamy should be banned and if not, how to protect the interests of women married under polygamy,

consent of the parties as a requirement for a valid marriage

whether registration of the marriage should be required

what the grounds of divorce should be and the need for a woman to be able to apply for a divorce and

rights of custody, access and guardianship of children upon divorce.

These pamphlets were distributed to MP’s to take to their constituencies, with an emphasis on rural areas.

* Further Briefings on Customary Marriages Bill

On 7 September 1998 Ms Mbatha from CALS briefed the Committee on the contents of the bill as introduced, together with the Amendment of Customary Law of Succession Bill to enable members of the Committee to participate fully in the public hearings and deliberations on the bills.

* Rural hearings

The Committee was a partner in a joint initiative with the Parliamentary Women’s Group Chair and subsequently by the Parliamentary Public Education Department (PED). The Committee was represented by Ms Nomsa Mtsweni and Ms Kereng Mothoagae. The initiative conducted rural hearings on the Customary marriages Bill in Mpumalanga and the Northern Province. A report of the initiative has been prepared by the PWG and PED, assisted by the Committee’s representative, Nomsa.

* Joint public hearings and deliberations between the Committee and the Justice Portfolio Committee

On 29 and 30 September 1998 the Committees held joint public hearings. The bill was passed by Parliament on 11 November 1998.

Key provisions of the Recognition of Customary Marriages Act of 1998

The act abolishes the minority status of women married under customary law by repealing specific sections of the Black Administration Act of 1927. It also abolishes marital power as provided for in the Kwazulu/ Natal Code and the Transkei Marriage Act.

The act provides that the wife in a customary marriage has on the basis of equality with her husband and subject to the matrimonial property system governing the marriage, full status and capacity including the capacity to acquire assets and to dispose of them, to enter into contracts and to litigate. Women married under customary law can now sue, hold property and contract. Importantly, this provision applies to marriages entered into both before and after the commencement of the legislation.

All existing customary marriages are now legally recognised. The proprietary consequences of these existing marriages will, however, continue to be governed by the customary law rule that women do not own property. A woman in an existing customary law marriage will have to persuade her husband to apply to the High Court if she wishes to acquire an interest in the estate of her husband.

Monogamous customary marriages entered into after the commencement of the act, will be in community of property unless the spouses enter into an ante-nuptial contract.

The act allows polygamy under customary law. The act provides that a party wishing to enter into a further marriage or marriages after the act comes into force must apply to the High Court for a suspension of the matrimonial property regime of the existing marriage(s), to effect a division of the property and to approve a written contract which would regulate the future matrimonial dispensation of the all the spouses. The court must ensure that there is an equitable distribution of property.

In relation to the validity of marriages, both spouses must be above the age of 18 years and the consent of both spouses is required. These requirements are in keeping with various international instruments. The marriage must also be entered into and celebrated in accordance with customary law. This may include the payment of lobola. A court may dissolve the marriage on the ground of irretrievable breakdown.

Parties in existing monogamous customary marriages may enter into civil marriages under the Marriage Act 1961, thereby dissolving the customary law marriage. Parties in polygamous customary unions cannot enter civil marriages.

There is a duty on spouses to ensure that their marriages are registered but failure to register a customary marriage does not affect the validity of the marriage.

Amendment of Customary Law of Succession Bill

The Justice Ministry introduced the Amendment of Customary Law of Succession Bill

together with the Recognition of Customary Marriages Bill.

The Succession Bill is neither a harmonisation of customary law and common law, nor a codification of customary law. The proposed bill seeks to extend the existing South African law of testate and intestate succession to all persons. It would have the effect of overriding the existing customary law of succession.

In the public hearings held on the two bills, various organisations raised concerns with the bill. Submissions stated that positive aspects of customary law of succession should be included in the legislation and that not enough research had been done into what the effects of the bill would be.

The bill has been referred back to the SALC for further research. It was anticipated that the bill would be re-introduced before the 1999 elections but it did not come before Parliament in the first session.

Access to Justice: Legal Aid

The Legal Aid Board has traditionally provided funding mostly to criminal cases and only in limited civil cases. This has affected women’s access to justice. Within the civil allocations, Legal Aid has not been available for amongst others maintenance matters and the obtainment of Domestic Violence interdicts.

The Legal Aid Board is currently being restructured and a draft Legal Aid Guide has been developed which sets out which persons qualify for Legal Aid. These reforms must ensure that women receive adequate access to justice.

Steps to be taken in 1999

At a briefing to the Committee on 9 March 1999, the Minister of Justice indicated that queries in this regard should be directed to the Legal Aid Board. The Committee Chair will direct these queries to the Legal Aid Board.

Family Courts

The Hoexter Commission recommended that family courts be established in South Africa. The vision is that a "one stop" family court would deal with all aspects relating to family law including divorce, maintenance, custody and other areas.

The department of Justice had on its legislative programme for 1998 a proposed bill on the Establishment of Family Courts to be finalised during 1998. The bill did not come before Parliament.

The department has established pilot family courts. These courts unite various courts such as divorce, maintenance and interdict courts in one section of the court. The courts however retain their separate jurisdictions.

Issues relevant to gender equality raised by the Justice Ministry

In briefings to the Committee on 9 and 16 March 1999 the Minister and Deputy Minister of Justice provided the following information on further areas that the Committee has identified are critical :

Equality legislation:

In the letter of invitation to the meeting the Committee chair requested the following information :

steps that have been taken to ensure that gender concerns are addressed in the legislation

process and timeframes leading up to the introduction of the legislation in Parliament - how will women be able to input into the drafting process

The Minister indicated as follows:

Section 9(4) of the Constitution provides that national legislation must be enacted to prevent or prohibit unfair legislation. The legislation must be enacted by February 2000. An Equality Legislation Drafting Unit has been established. The unit has liased with a reference group comprised of parliamentary committees, NGO’s, departments and academics and has consulted with stakeholders, including women’s organisations. Provincial workshops have been held.

It is expected that the draft bill will be handed to the Minister on 21 March 1999, which is the culmination of Human Rights Week. The theme for the week is equality. The bill will be introduced to Parliament after the elections. The bill will be controversial in certain circles because it will permit and encourage affirmative action to achieve equality, including in relation to gender.

Religious marriages

Members of the SALC project committee on Recognition of Muslim Marriages are in the process of being appointed. Ms Farida Mahomed, who is also a member of the Committee on the Quality of Life and Status of Women, has been appointed to the Project Committee. The department has prepared initial draft legislation for consideration by the project committee

The Committee is concerned about whether the terms of reference of the SALC project extend to the status of women in other religious marriages and if not, what steps are being taken to consider the position of such women.

Timeframes of SALC Projects

There may be unhappiness about the timeframes within which the SALC completes its projects. The Minister advised against rushing the SALC, as the research done by the SALC is of a high standard.

Gender sensitisation training of magistrates and judges and institutional transformation

In the letter of invitation the Committee chair posed the following questions to the Minister:

what steps were being taken to change the attitudes of magistrates and what gender sensitisation training is being provided.

what disciplinary action can be taken against judges and magistrates

The minister indicated as follows:

The department of Justice has been successful in transforming itself. It is properly representative in terms of race but not gender. Gender representivity is receiving attention. The institutions which the department administer such as the SALC, the Rules Board, the Legal Aid Board and the Magistrate’s Commission are properly representative.

Issues such as gender sensitivity are dealt with by the Judicial Services Commission (JSC) in respect of judges and the Magistrates Commission (MC) in respect of magistrates. The question of gender must be taken into account more seriously by the JSC.

The Magistrates Commission has been structured into 14 clusters with local managerial clusters to facilitate dealing with problems relating to, for example, victim concerns, gender and outreach programmes. The MC has recently approved judicial, managerial, prosecutorial and administrative manuals. One aspect of the manuals includes gender sensitivity.

Much of the administrative work that was previously carried out by magistrates is now being done by the regional offices of the department, which are aware of the need for gender sensitivity. The department will request the regional offices or a report in this regard.

The Law, Race and Gender unit at the University of Cape Town assists the department with training of magistrates. Extensive workshops have been held reaching hundreds of magistrates.

Prosecutors undergo training at Justice College on various aspects, including race and gender training. Before magistrates take office, they are also trained at Justice College. There is however still a great deal to be done in this area.

There is no continuing legal education in South Africa, for judges or magistrates. Judges have been resistant to training. It is perceived as interference with the independence of the judiciary. There is however a training programme for newly appointed judges. The JSC has been requested to address training. The department has suggested to the JSC that localised judicial seminars be held.

The department receives a number of complaints. It has asked the JSC to develop a complaints mechanism. The JSC is discussing the issue. The High Courts have not previously had such a mechanism. The MC has provided for misconduct proceedings and has appointed a disciplinary subcommittee.

Gender unit

The Deputy-Minister briefed the Committee as follows:

The unit falls under the Chief Directorate: Transformation. Currently the Unit does not have a director as Ms Zelda Moletsane is engaged with the Family courts pilot project. The unit has a Deputy Director. It is under staffed. The Minister recently seconded Patricia Lambert to the unit. One of its areas of focus is women and decision-making. Although the unit is under resourced gender is also being mainstreamed within the department and support is received from the rest of the department.

A study is being done on gender representivity within the department. The unit has also engaged in training on women’s leadership development in the national office and in the western Cape. There is a need to draw men into the training to ensure an affirming environment.

The Justice Gender Policy document will be launched on 16 March 1999 as part of Human Rights Week. The document outlines terms of reference for the establishment of gender forums. A national justice gender forum was launched in February 1999. These are also to be established in the provinces.

International activities include participation in the 1998 CEDAW delegation to present South Africa’s report to the UN expert committee, drafting the CEDAW optional protocol and the submission of the first South African report on the African Charter, which contains a substantial section on gender as well as participation in drafting South Africa’s National Action Plan for the Promotion and Protection of Human Rights developed in response to the Vienna Declaration and Programme of Action of 1993.

Human Rights week

The theme of the week is equality and Non-Discrimination. Various details of activities were provided.

EMPLOYMENT

Employment Equity Bill

The Committee noted that the Employment Equity Bill would come before Parliament during 1998 and that there was a need to ensure a gender perspective on the bill.

Public Hearings and Committee Report

The Labour Portfolio Committee held public hearings on the Employment Equity Bill on 21 and 22 July 1998.

The Committee monitored the hearings and made a submission to the Labour Portfolio Committee supporting the representations from women’s organisations for amendments which would impact positively on working women.

Many of the submissions were incorporated as amendments by the Labour Portfolio Committee an are reflected in the Employment Equity Act.

Key aspects of the Employment Equity Act of 1998

The Chapter on Unfair Discrimination provides that no person may discriminate against an employee, on amongst others, the grounds of sex, gender, family responsibility, pregnancy and HIV status.

The definition of family responsibility includes same sex partnerships, and partnerships outside of marriage.

The definition of pregnancy includes circumstances relating to termination of pregnancy and intended pregnancy.

The act explicitly provides that harassment, including sexual harassment, is a form of unfair discrimination.

A person who has been discriminated against can approach the CCMA and the Labour Court for various remedies, including the payment of compensation and an order directing the employer to take steps to prevent the same unfair discrimination or a similar practice occurring in the future in respect of other employees.

Designated employers are required to implement affirmative action measures for people from disadvantaged groups. The act sets out what affirmative action measures must include, such as measures to identify and eliminate employment barriers and ensuring equitable representation.

The Chapter on Affirmative Action expressly includes women as a designated group that has been disadvantaged and in respect of whom affirmative action measures must be taken to ensure their equitable representation in the workforce.

The act recognises that black women face particular disadvantage. Compliance with the act is assessed with reference to the extent to which people from and amongst the designated groups are equitably represented within the workforce.

Labour inspectors will ensure that employers have affirmative action plans and that they are implemented. If an employer fails to comply, the Labour Court has the power to issue fines for non-compliance and to order compliance.

The act also provides that every employer who wishes to conclude a state contract must comply with the provisions of the act.

Maternity Benefits

The Unemployment Insurance Fund (UIF) is currently being restructured. One aspect of restructuring is in relation to the payment of maternity benefits. Under the UIF Act women receive 45% of their previous salary for a period of 24 weeks as maternity benefits. There are various proposals to increase these benefits. The Committee identified the need for the proposals to be considered and for inputs to be made by women’s organisations. The exclusion of domestic workers from maternity benefits needs to be addressed and creative solutions found.

The Committee chair addressed correspondence to the Minister of Labour requesting an indication of when legislative amendments to the UIF would be proposed to cabinet and what the nature and extent of the proposals are, and whether it is proposed that domestic workers would be included under the provisions of the UIF.

The department indicated that a draft bill was forthcoming which would address the questions posed.

The Presidential Job Summit

The Committee’s 1998 priority document identified the need to assess Government’s position on the Presidential Job Summit to be held during 1998 to consider what research was being done and positions put forward to ensure that women access jobs and earn a living wage.

Steps taken by the Committee

Labour, Government and Business South Africa developed proposals towards an agenda for the job summit. The Committee scheduled various meetings in preparation for the job summit held on 30 October 1998 to ensure that women’s concerns would be addressed at the summit.

* Background Meeting

On 7 September 1998 the Committee was addressed by Ann Vincent to provide background to the Committee on issues relevant to women and the job summit. The following aspects are highlighted:

Ms Vincent suggested that there are three objectives which should be borne in mind when considering the job summit proposals: are the policies and programmes going to reduce the unemployment rate of the female labour force, will they be creating income generating opportunities for women and are they providing equal opportunities for women.

In relation to empowerment of women there has to be a planned, systematic and purposeful action that creates empowerment. This means that one must have concrete business plans which include policy measures as well as specialised employment programmes. Programmes could be undertaken jointly by business, government and labour.

A specialised programme which could be undertaken is a nationwide information programme. Women have identified the lack of information at development project level as a critical downfall. There is a need to challenge what is meant by jobs and what the purpose is of a job summit. Does this only entail creating formal employment or does it include creating mechanisms for people to harness human resources around them so that they can become architects of their own fate.

There are a number of issues in relation to government’s proposals on special employment programmes, which include public works programmes and strategic development initiatives. Programmes should be tapping the population in the area where the projects are to be implemented; the bidding process should be opened up to women; there should be monitoring of the projects and development of key performance indicators by government as well as NGO’s and a redistribution of employment opportunities to the rural areas.

The role of local government in relation to local economic development strategies must be carefully considered. Local government is an important local economic actor and should use this influence to contribute to economic empowerment of women. The exact way in which this is done however has to be carefully considered. Local governments are overstretched and struggling to deal with restructuring and delivery. Local economic development strategies are also relatively new in South Africa.

It is nevertheless possible to draw up a list of how local government can empower women economically within realisable goals. At the top of the list could be satisfying practical gender needs as necessary empowerment such as shelter, clean water, and safe public transport. One could develop a list of activities to help women already engaged in or attempting to engage in production, for instance financial and technical support, child care provision initiatives and looking at how local government does contracting to ensure a link with affirmative action.

On a practical issue, women are still categorised within the roles of production, reproduction and community management. For women to be economically empowered this triple role must be challenged.

In relation to statistics, double the amount of women than men are unemployed. Is the goal in relation to development projects then that 200 % should be women or just that the projects contain a majority of women?

* Panel discussion with key stakeholders

On 21 September 1998 the Committee convened a panel discussion with representatives from Business South Africa, Labour, the Community Development Chamber at NEDLAC, Government and various discussants to stimulate debate leading up to the job summit and to critically scrutinise the various proposals put forward by the key stakeholders in terms of their impact on women. Various inputs are summarised and highlighted in this report:

Business South Africa:

Business South Africa (BSA) recognises that the hardships of unemployment are borne by the entire society but especially by the targeted groups in rural areas and concentrated among the youth and women. BSA hopes that the summit agenda will be inclusive of the needs of all the stakeholders and the special interest groups.

The route to sustainable job creation in South Africa must come from accelerated growth. A fundamental requirement of accelerated economic growth is the need for human capacity development. Accordingly the BSA proposals focus on schooling and training. BSA set out its proposals in this regard which did not address gender concerns. It stated that in human capacity development there is a need to focus on the role of women.

In relation to demand side measures, BSA proposed a focus on tourism. Again its proposals were highlighted but did not address gender concerns.

Critique on BSA proposals: Commission on Gender Equality:

Ms Vivienne Taylor from the CGE was requested to comment on BSA proposals:

The BSA proposals are disappointing. Although couched in politically correct language, the fundamentals of its proposals remain the same by not looking at making significant investments in a socially responsible programme.

The CGE outlined specific short term and long term concrete proposals that it is looking for from BSA. In relation to short term, immediate proposals it wants to see concrete steps to prevent job losses at the bottom end of the spectrum. Within existing jobs it is looking for pay equity reform to ensure equal pay for work of equal value so that the discriminatory practice of paying women lower wages in industry is addressed.

The issue of retrenchments and redundancies and how these affect women needs to be looked at. A further issue is the emphasis business places on micro-enterprise and small business and how they will be facilitated in mainstream economic activity. In relation to sectors that are growing, such as tourism, mechanisms must be put into place to ensure that women’s participation is brought into the planning for the sectors.

The job summit is a means to address the need for a guaranteed minimum income that is essential in South Africa. A socially responsible way should be found to provide us with the way to find guaranteed minimum income for those who are outside the monetised economy. There has not been a creative socially responsible response to addressing the unpaid labour of women within the economy. Economic activity must be redefined to give a comparable value to the unpaid work of women.

Community Development Chamber (NEDLAC)

Ms Pat Horn from SEWU and the Community Development Chamber at NEDLAC presented a lengthy input, aspects of which include the following:

The community constituency of NEDLAC consists of five sectors, one of which is women. The community development chamber is not taken seriously within NEDLAC. As a result it is difficult to put forward women’s concerns. In relation to the job summit the community constituency focused on the informal sector.

The first issue addressed by the chamber was to push for the publishing of census results about the informal sector. One of the problems is that very little is known about the informal sector, its composition and the kind of work that people are engaged in.

The second issue was to look at amendments to the Small Business Enabling Act to disaggregate the survivalist sector, contains a disproportionate number of women and rural people, within the rest of the SMME sector.

A further issue is creation of opportunities for survivalists to become more economically viable. Ways must be found to increase income for people who are working in non-recognised forms of work. The proposal is to develop legislation for the protection and recognition of workers in the informal sector.

There is a concern that the SMME sector is a ghetto for women and blacks. It should be a gateway into the mainstream economy and not a dead end.

A further proposal is to form a business training board to deal with training which is needed to assist people in the survivalist sector to move out of the sector into more varied types of work.

There are many government initiatives offering support services which should be accessible at one stop interface points.

The duality of the labour market into formal and informal should be challenged; people in the informal sector should be seen as part of the overall labour market.

Proposals were also made in relation to a code of minimum labour standards for SMME’s and the extension of social security to workers in the informal sector.

The key mechanisms which have been established by the government for the SMME sector, Khula and Ntsika, have not been accessible to the survivalist sector, especially in the rural areas.

Further comments were made in the input in relation to the process leading up to the job summit and the recognition that a number of issues would remain outstanding after the job summit which should be pursued.

Labour

Mr Neil Coleman presented a long and detailed paper. A few of the issues raised were the following:

A critical test of the proposals before the job summit and agreements reached at the job summit is the extent to which they comprehensively begin to address the plight of black women. The labour proposals include a range of policy interventions to address the position of women. It contains a section on women and job creation setting out ten required elements.

An integrated policy development approach is needed which addresses obstacles to the development of women in all areas of policy. Women must be mainstreamed in development strategies to avoid marginalisation of their concerns. Industrial and macroeconomic policies must be gender sensitive. Work and family responsibilities should be harmonised. There should be targeted job creation for women. There is a need for public works programmes to provide short term poverty relief infrastructure to empower women. A regulatory framework must be developed including anti-discrimination legislation. Women must have access to productive resources including natural resources, capital, credit, infrastructure and technology. These ten points constitute the framework within which to locate labour’s detailed proposals.

A few of labour’s detailed proposals in relation to women were mentioned by the speaker such as the need for a pro development macroeconomic framework, the proposal for a national public housing scheme, public works programmes, youth brigades, the quality of jobs, expansion of training, progressive taxation and stemming job losses.

Government

The Committee was addressed by the Minister of Trade and Industry, Alec Erwin:

The job summit does not belong to NEDLAC. Broad participation is critical. Co-ordinators from government would be requesting meetings from NGO’s and other groupings.

Government’s employment strategy framework must be understood as a policy adjustment by government, arising out of the recognition that economic growth has not been as estimated in GEAR and that the burden of structural adjustments in the economy are too high on the unemployed, the poor and vulnerable groupings.

The proposal is to re-organise government efforts across a wide spectrum to place greater emphasis on job creation. None of the proposals are designed to simply be short term proposals. Inherent in government proposals is a focus on the vulnerable.

A weakness identified by government in proposals by other constituencies is the lack of clear ways of mobilising resources that government cannot provide. Government needs their structures for delivery.

There is a tendency for the community to sit back and wait for government. The job summit must be seen as a collective effort. There would be further opportunities for groupings to meet with government representatives before the job summit.

Discussant

Ms Lulu Gwagwa, from the department of Public Works, raised a number of critical points:

It is welcome that the government proposals contain long and short term plans. To not lose the advantage of the clear proposals there is a need to strengthen co-ordination between different programmes of government and between the long term and short term proposals.

A critical concern is rural areas if you are looking at women and unemployment. Government does not have an integrated rural development strategy. It is critical for example in linking local economic development programmes and labour saving programmes.

There needs to be more emphasis on the reorientation of traditional areas to ensure a development approach that takes into account gender issues, as many of the rural areas are controlled by traditional authorities.

A further aspect is the need for a clearer strategy on the targeting of groups. In relation to the national public works programme, for example, the percentage of women employed is high, but women tend to be employed in the lesser skilled and lower paid positions.

There is a need for a more structured way of monitoring and evaluation. What impact are programmes making in relation to women?

General Discussant

Ms Miriam Altman raised a few general points:

One of the key aspects which the sectors need to consider is strengthening the ability to mobilise. Women tend to get discriminated against in ways which make participation difficult. In relation to land , finance, access to skills, occupational entry and access to opportunities one should ask what the practical steps are that can be taken by labour and community to address these issues.

Further initiatives

The Minister of Trade and Industry appointed a consultant, Miriam Altman, to develop a specific focus on women and the Job Summit which, after extensive feedback from women’s organisations, was included in the final job summit agreement. A copy is annexed as "C."

A follow up to the panel discussion was a meeting hosted by the Committee with the CGE and the Women’s National Coalition on how to ensure maximum influence on ensuring that the job summit consider the impact of the various agreements on women.

The WNC subsequently hosted a broad consultative meeting at which the draft agreement on women was developed further. At this meeting, the Committee chair presented a briefing on the initiatives the committee had taken and what some of the critical points of intervention were that the WNC could take further.

TRADE AND INDUSTRY

In 1999 the Committee requested the Minister of Trade and Industry to address the Committee

The letter of invitation sent by the Chair of the Committee requested the Minister to focus on the following issues:

the entire agreement reached at the job summit and its implications for women as well as the specific agreement reached pertaining to women as a group;

steps that have been taken to implement the agreements reached;

the budgetary allocations for implementation of government’s commitments arising out of the summit;

the nature of the working structure to monitor the agreements reached at the summit and whether it has been established;

the R29 billion arms deal, its employment creation potential and its impact on women.

Key points raised by the Minister in his address to the Committee on 23 March 1999

The work of the department is structured around 10 programmes. One of the guidelines which is used in all the programmes is seeking to ensure that all constituencies and groupings are covered. In the Trade Promotion Export Financing Incentives, for example, the department seeks to ensure participation of women. The department is working on improving reporting and monitoring in this regard. Although statistics are now available in relation to, for example, beneficiaries of Khula and Ntsika, these also need to be improved upon.

The department, through the Deputy Minister has been active in bringing together women’s networks in South Africa and in the SADC region to participate in technology and manufacturing activities.

In relation to small businesses, the major problem is access to finance. The second problem is reaching out to intended target beneficiaries. Sixty three percent of the total support budget of the department is directed at SMME’s. Only a very small percentage of the budget is comprised of donor funding. The department has taken steps to ensure the participation of women, although more could be done.

The focus has been on industries where predominantly women are involved. The department is looking at building support for craft and culturally based industries. There has been reasonable success in bringing together groupings from rural areas. There has been a realisation that the craft market should not only be geared to export, but also domestic consumption. A study on Khula has shown that more funding is reaching the survivalist sector than the middle sector. It is not yet clear if the funding meets required needs.

Much can be done to assist communities and encourage participation of women in the Spatial Development Initiatives. A challenge is to secure the rights of individuals within communities. The department is developing a proposal together with the department of Land Affairs.

The Portfolio Committee on Trade and Industry recently held hearings on Credit and Consumer Protection. Aspects of the hearings were in relation to unscrupulous money lenders and the need to access credit. The department is working on this area. The Minister indicated that in his opinion there is a need for a new institution to deal with collateral.

A weakness in the department’s institutional transformation has been in relation to gender. The mould of many women employed at the lower levels and few at the managerial level has not been broken. Structures have been put in place to address this concern.

The Supervisory Committee has been monitoring implementation of the job summit agreements.

The important big projects are a combination of the special employment projects, the housing project and small business promotion. These are to be included in integrated regional projects, some of which will be implemented in the next few weeks. In relation to the agreement on women, one of the main thrusts is the guideline targets for women’s participation. Funding of the job summit initiatives is not a problem; the challenge is to get the projects off the ground.

The department will engage in a study and consultation process in reviewing trade reform of the past five years and developing the next round of policies. The terms of reference of the study will include an assessment of the impact on industries that employ predominantly women, as well as which industries could benefit from increased trade liberalisation and what the impact will be on women.

In relation to the arms deal, innovative ways have been found to structure the purchase of equipment. South Africa has a defence capability and certain equipment needs upgrading. The purchase of equipment is tied to investment projects. The government has developed clear proposals for the investment projects. Monitoring of the agreements falls under the department. There are various penalties for non-compliance with agreements. The purchases will take place over a period of twenty years.

FINANCE

Report on Women, the Budget and Economic Policy

On 17 March 1998 the Committee held public hearings on Women, the Budget and Economic Policy. The report arising out of the hearings was tabled before Parliament in June 1998.

In 1999 the Minister of Finance was requested to address the Committee.

In the letter of invitation, the Committee chair requested that the Minister focus on the following issues:

progress on the Pilot Project to "engender" the budget, the Budget Review and macro-economic policy and the impact of the project on this year’s budget.

progress on the Ministry’s 1996 cabinet commitment to:

* reduce military expenditure and to utilise the savings towards women’s empowerment

progress on the 1996 Budget commitments to:

* develop a statistical database to provide information on the impact of expenditures disaggregated by gender,

* the implementation of targets and indicators of gender equality and equity in spending,

the development of a performance review mechanism to evaluate progress and report to Parliament,

* the time use study to contribute to developing a method to include women’s unpaid labour within the GDP.

progress on the Ministry’s plans to do an impact study to assess the effects of government’s macroeconomic policies on women.

Address by the Minister of Finance and the Director-General of Finance on 16 March 1999

The Minster introduced the briefing by emphasising that the work of the ministry must be understood within the work of all the other departments. The budget is a synthesis of the work of departments.

The pilot project to engender the budget also relies on the departments to collect disaggregated data. The Budget Review of 1998 and the National Expenditure Survey of 1999 (NES) include boxes which attempt to quantify the impact of the budget on women. It is hoped that these initiatives will be followed at provincial level. The survey is an important tool to measure change. The minister highlighted aspects of the various boxes drawn from the survey, which are annexed to the report as "D." The questionnaires which were sent to the departments to obtain the information for the NES will be developed and expanded on in the future. The questionnaire does include gender aspects.

The planning framework of the budget has started to change with the introduction of the Medium Term Expenditure Framework. There has been a shift from inputs to outputs and performance. The NES reflects commitments from departments on which areas they intend to address. The NES is a type of performance review mechanism. The Committee would be able to use this year’s NES as a benchmark when assessing the budget next year.

Money has been secured from Norway to fund a time use study. It will take StatsSA three years to undertake the study, which has already commenced. The Ministry has been unable to engage in an impact study on government’s macroeconomic policies due to resource constraints.

Committee members raised questions about local government. The department’s mandate only extends to ensuring that capital and current expenditure take place within the prescribed limits. The department is however trying to go further and is engaging with the ministry of Constitutional development to extend the disciplines of national and provincial government to the local sphere.

Sixty of the largest local governments account for 80% of local government expenditure. Many local governments are not viable. Local government raises 80% of its own revenue. An area that needs to be developed is a uniform system to deal with indigence. Local government allocation of funds will now be in accordance with the formula developed by the Financial and Fiscal Commission. The formula is based on the number of families living in poverty.

In relation to questions on reprioritization of government spending, it was indicated that military spending has decreased from four and a half percent of GDP in 1993-94 to one and a half percent of GDP in 1999-2000. The main beneficiaries of reprioritization have been the departments of health, education and welfare. Women tend to be the main beneficiaries of reprioritization. There is some room to improve efficiency within votes to ensure that more available resources reach the people and less money is spent on the wage bill.

In response to further questions from the Committee in relation to the R29 billion arms deal, the Minister indicated that a decision has been taken by government that South Africa requires a defence capability. The Defence Review outlines various types of equipment that are obsolete and need replacement. The period for delivery and spending on the equipment is ten to fifteen years. A Cabinet Committee was established in December 1998 to examine the various issues pertaining to the purchase of equipment.

A selection panel which will make recommendations on proposed members to be appointed to the National Development Agency has been established. The selection panel has paid attention to provincial, sectoral representivity and gender representivity.

WELFARE

In 1999 the Committee requested the Minister of Welfare to address the Committee

In the letter of invitation the Committee Chair requested the Minister to address the following issues:

The programmes, budgetary allocations and implementation plans for:

the agreement reached at the job summit that the department of Welfare will co-ordinate a national plan for the provision of early childhood education and care for children up to age six;

the department’s plan on HIV/Aids;

poverty eradication and the development of the social security net.

Key issues addressed by the Minister on 23 March 1999

The department has produced a new organogram in the last month to emphasise the linkages between welfare services, social security and poverty alleviation.

Ninety one percent of the welfare budget is allocated to social security. Sixty eight percent of this amount is allocated to pensions. Approximately eighty percent of beneficiaries are women. Grants provide cash transfers into the poorest households. The department would like to move to a ratio of 80/20 for social security and welfare services respectively, without sacrificing the important role of social security in the welfare net.

The department is conscious of loan sharks and is developing a pilot project on micro-savings as part of its poverty alleviation programme. A key aim is to assist women to move out of the grant system towards self-sufficiency. The scheme would operate on similar principles to a stokvel. The department would provide an initial cash injection to a scheme.

In 1997/8 the poverty alleviation programme consisted of 1133 development projects and had a budget of R50 million. It benefited 93 000 people directly. In 1998/9, R203 million has been allocated to provincial development projects and national pilot projects, and includes 2015 projects in the nine provinces.

A number of national projects were highlighted: R20 million has been allocated to the disability sector, linked to job summit commitments. R18 million has been allocated to a micro-savings pilot project, R6 million to a community empowerment project to enhance service delivery, R6 million to the Clean Green Integrated Waste Management project, R3 million to a project with ex-offenders under the Working for Water Programme, R3.5 million, arising out of the job summit towards sewing programmes and R6 million towards Starfish 2000, a placement programme in the Western Cape for school leavers and graduates.

The Flagship Programme for Unemployed Mothers with Children under Five has fifteen programmes and has benefited 1300 women and their children. The programme has proved that women who come out of the grant can earn more than they received through the grant.

The Minister highlighted major achievement projects in Bekkersdal, Matatheng and Northern province where community projects have been successful and are sustainable.

The department has started developing investigations into the development of a national plan for the provision of early childhood education and care for children up to age six, as agreed at the job summit. The challenge is to ensure viable educare. Further areas arising out of the job summit are to stimulate NGO’s in unserviced areas and the provision of Welfare Services within the Spatial Development Initiatives.

There are eight type of grants. The beneficiaries of the grants are mostly women. In rural areas up to ten members of a family benefit from a grant. The criteria for receipt of a disability grant must be tightened. There have, for example, never been clear distinctions between temporary and permanent disabilities. The disability and care dependency grants will be under increasing pressure because of HIV/Aids.

There has not been the expected take up of the child support grant. The department has discovered a reluctance on the part of officials to popularise and administer the grants. The attitude of the officials has been that too much effort is required for a mere R100. This attitude has been addressed within the department with a resultant dramatic increase in grants being awarded. In the space of three weeks, 7 000 new children received grants. The total number of beneficiaries has reached the 30 000 target. Members of Parliament are encouraged to popularise the grant in their constituencies. The conditional grant that the department has received will be used to send mobile units, staffed by Home Affairs, to the rural areas to assist people with receipt of birth certificates to access the grants, as well as towards communication and appointment of temporary staff.

The department has developed a new financing policy for developmental social welfare services. The policy will commence in April 1999 and be completed in 2004.

The Women’s Partnership against HIV/Aids is led by the department of Welfare. An innovative way was found to launch the project through the "On the right track" train journey. The train commenced in the Northern Province and travelled through to Cape Town. The train stopped at stations in rural areas where communities were drawn into activities on the station platforms. There has been a perception that people with HIV/Aids were not involved in the planning of the initiative; this perception is wrong. A meeting has been scheduled with the Office on the Status of Women to plan ways of taking forward the memorandum that was developed on the train journey.

EDUCATION

The Department of Education established a task team to investigate gender equity in education. The completed report of the team is comprehensive and detailed.

Steps taken by the Committee

* Briefing on Gender Equity in Education Report

On 15 March 1999 the Committee hosted a joint meeting with the Portfolio Committee on Education, inviting members of the GETT to brief the Committees on its report. Dr. AnnMarie Wolpe, the chairperson of the taskteam presented the report to the meeting.

The Committee identified the need for the recommendations to be given urgent effect by the Department of Education.

The Committee Chair addressed correspondence to the Education Minister requesting an update on the current status of the GETT report, specifically: which recommendations contained in the report would be implemented, the timeframes for implementation and an indication of the budgetary allocations that have been made to ensure effective implementation.

The Ministry indicated that it had established an inter branch committee on gender equity policy to develop a draft proposal on structures for gender equity. The report indicated that the Director-General had approved the establishment of a gender equity unit at national level, depending on availability of funds.

* Education department workshop

The Committee Chair addressed the National Education Department’s workshop on Gender in Education. The workshop focused on the GETT report. The address of the Committee Chair raised the following challenges for the Ministry:

the department had to commit to clear timeframes to effect the recommendations of the GETT report which includes legislative changes, changes to the curriculum and textbooks, training as well as establishing and operationalising the gender equity unit,

these had to be adequately budgeted for, and

all the work of the Ministry needs to be engendered; the gender equity unit should assist this process rather than allow for ghettoisation.

The Committee will need to continue to monitor progress on implementation of the Gett report by the Ministry.

NATIONAL MACHINERY

Committee Report on government’s implementation of CEDAW and the Beijing Platform for Action

On 6 November 1998 the Committee tabled an independent report before Parliament on government’s implementation of CEDAW and the Beijing Platform for Action.

The Office on the Status of Women

Green Paper on a National Gender Policy

During 1999 the Committee was advised that the Office on the Status of Women (OSW) was developing a green paper on a national gender policy to be passed by cabinet in 1998. The Committee intended to host public hearings on the document. The policy document was unfortunately not finalised by the OSW during 1998.

In 1999 Deputy Minister Essop Pahad and Dr Ellen Kornegay, the director of the OSW were requested to address the Committee

In the letter of invitation from the Committee Chair information was requested on the following:

The Office on the Status of Women

Structure of the OSW

Budget of the OSW

Programmes of the OSW

National Gender Policy

Is the OSW responsible for co-ordination of all programmes within government aimed at advancing women? If so, what are all the initiatives and where are they currently being co-ordinated?

Inter-ministerial co-operation in relation to gender programmes

An overall assessment of the OSW to date

Gender desks

Is the OSW responsible for co-ordinating gender desks within all three spheres of government?

A breakdown of gender desks within all three spheres of government

An assessment of the functioning of the gender desks

Which departments have gender policies?

How are the gender desks funded?

Representivity

available figures on staff breakdown in terms of race and gender within national and provincial government

Key points raised in the address by Deputy Minister Essop Pahad and Dr Ellen Kornegay on 15 March 1999

A draft national gender document has been completed and is undergoing internal review. The document will be released as a green paper for consultation and input. It makes reference to the RDP, the Constitution, the Women’s Charter and other instruments. The policy document recognises that majority of women are living below the poverty line.

The document includes sections on: context and vision, situational analysis, policy context, vision and principles for gender equity, a framework for implementation, guidelines for policy and monitoring and evaluation methods.

The departments of Justice and Water are the two departments that have gender policies. There are gender desks in all the provinces, except Kwazulu-Natal where attempts are being made to put together a programme. In relation to the various sectors the OSW ‘s function is to co-ordinate activities. The line departments must engender themselves and technical work must be done by the departments.

The fourteen functions of the OSW have been broken down into programmes; policy, gender mainstreaming, advocacy, planning and co-ordination, advising the Deputy President and premiers, capacity building and networking.

Categorising the programmes has assisted in assessing staffing needs. A staff complement of four is needed at the national level. The staff must have a high competency in gender work to lead the national programme. Two consultants have been engaged, one of whom has assisted with the drafting of the national gender policy.

In relation to gender mainstreaming, the principle variables are deracialising and engendering institutions. Government has many short term programmes which are critical but within a gender and development approach there is also a need to develop longer term, sustainable programmes.

The OSW is currently conducting a gender audit of all government departments and all the provinces. Without such an audit one cannot develop a national action plan. Information is needed on department’s priorities, the resources which reside in ministries, the viability of mainstreaming gender within departments, understanding the environment within which programme are developed in order to assist government in setting up targets and benchmarks for gender equality.

The audit questionnaire covers internal transformation and external service delivery. A taskteam and planning committee have been established for the audit. The audit will be done by gender focal points. Steps will be taken to ensure that senior management is involved in the audit.

It will take approximately six months to collect the data and a year for a definitive report to be released.

The OSW had a budget in the 1998/99 year of R2,5 million which included donor funding of R1, 5 million from the Danish government. For the 1999/2000 year the budget covers salaries of staff and administration. The Danish funding terminates in August 1999.

In relation to questions raised by the Committee on the status of gender desks or focal points at the local government level, it was acknowledged that much remains to be done. The focus has been on national and provincial structures. The Minister agreed with the Committee that this is a crucial area of delivery and ways of strengthening co-operation and co-ordination need to be found; and mooted the idea of a meeting between SALGA, the Committee, the OSW and the Minister of Constitutional Development.

Committee comments and priorities arising

The national gender policy framework must urgently be tabled. It is critical that the national policy underpin policies in the various sectors and departments.

Commission on Gender Equality

Legislative audit of legislation that discriminates on the basis of Sex/Gender

On 17 March 1999 the Committee hosted a meeting with the Commission on Gender Equality, which was followed by the launch of the CGE Audit of Legislation that discriminates on the basis of Sex/Gender. In 1998 the Committee agreed to work jointly with the CGE on the audit. The Committee researcher thus contributed the chapter on Economic Issues to the audit.

The focus of the meeting was to explore joint work to be undertaken by the CGE and the Committee, both in relation to priorities arising out of the legislative audit as well as other areas of co-operation.

Certain areas were identified as legislative priority areas, where joint work could be undertaken. The principal areas include:

The Equality legislation to be enacted by February 2000

Sexual Assault legislation, currently being considered by the SALC

Maternity benefits, with a focus on domestic workers

Recognition of Religious Marriages, currently being considered by the SALC

Customary Law of Succession and other issues relating to customary law

Access to Legal Aid

Regulations to the Domestic Violence, Maintenance and Customary law legislation

The meeting also discussed ways in which the CGE and Committee could collaborate

The CGE has established a Parliamentary office to be launched in the coming months.

A suggestion put forward was to schedule a workshop to establish the strategic positions of the CGE and the Committee in relation to drafting and monitoring of legislation.

It was emphasised that a critical challenge is in implementation of legislation and monitoring its impact.

The CGE parliamentary office would like to work with the Committee and civil society organisations to develop a gender monitoring collective. One aspect would be to systematise legislative interventions. The CGE wishes to explore a system to ensure that all bills are processed through the CGE.

The CGE suggested that it meet with the Committee on a quarterly basis to identify priority areas, strategise and develop programmes, which could be undertaken jointly.

Joint Publication

The Committee entered into an agreement with various partners to be part of producing a joint publication on women in the first democratic parliament.

The partners to the initiative are:

Commission on Gender Equality

Committee on the Quality of Life and Status of Women

Parliamentary Women’s Group

Gender Equity Unit of the Western Cape

Women’snet

School of Public and Development Management at Wits

Gender Advocacy Programme

The book will have four sections:

Women in Parliament - brief profiles of a cross section of women who served in the first democratic legislatures of South Africa

Beyond Numbers - to assess the challenges and achievements of women in Parliament

Party Commitments to Women’s issues

Mobilising the Women’s Vote

The Committee will assist with the launch, which will take place prior to the elections.

ELECTIONS

At present South Africa ranks internationally as a country with one of the highest numbers of women in Parliament. This is as a direct consequence of the quota adopted by the African National Congress in the 1994 national elections. An unresolved issue for all parties is whether a statutory quota system should be introduced which would bind parties participating in elections.

There is a widespread concern that the number of women elected will decline in the 1999 elections.

In its 1997 Annual Report the Committee identified various priority issues in relation to electoral process that need to be addressed. These included the need to assess the position of women within the political parties, specifically issues relating to how to encourage parties to put women up as candidates, how to reward parties for doing so and what sanction can be put in place if parties do not address the issue of empowering women, the need to make specific commitments to ensure that women in remote rural areas are empowered and able to participate in an informed manner in the voting process and the need for a report from the department of constitutional development to report on its international obligations in respect of electoral process.

Steps taken by the Committee

* Letter to the Department of Constitutional Development

The Committee Chair addressed a letter to the Department of Constitutional Development in relation to gaps and concerns in electoral process identified in 1997.

The department advised that most of the issues fall within the jurisdiction of the Independent Electoral Commission (IEC). The drafting of elections regulations do however fall within the DCD jurisdiction and the issues raised by the Committee were to be forwarded to the drafters of the regulations. Certain issues would fall under the Demarcation Board which was in the process of being established.

* Meeting on Women and the Elections

The Committee hosted a meeting on 14 September 1998 on women and the elections. The focus of the meeting was to consider relevant legislation, regulations and codes to examine whether there are sufficient provisions to ensure women’s effective participation in elections both as voters and as candidates.

The Committee was addressed by Jomo Khasu (Member of the Committee), Mirjam Van Donk (Gender Advocacy Programme) Glenda Fick (Electoral Institute of South Africa Gender Reference Group) and Devaki Jain (Founder member of DAWN)

Jomo Khasu briefed the Committee on various legislative aspects:

Quota’s for women’s representation can be provided for statutorily or at the level of party policy. The Electoral Act does not provide any legislative directive on quota’s for women.

The Electoral Code of Conduct, attached as a schedule to the Electoral Bill, contains a number of important provisions concerning women’s participation in elections:

The purpose of the code is to promote conditions that are conducive to free and fair elections. Every registered party and every candidate must comply with the code.

Provisions of the code are as follows: No registered party or candidate may discriminate on race, ethnicity, sex, gender, class or religion in connection with an election or political activity. No person may abuse a position of power, privilege or influence including parental, patriarchal, traditional or employment authority to influence the conduct or outcome of an election.

The code has a section on the role of women which provides that every registered party and candidate must:

* respect the rights of women to communicate freely with parties and candidates,

* facilitate the full and equal participation of women in political activities,

* ensure the free access of women to all public political meetings, marches, demonstrations, rallies and other public political events and

* take all reasonable steps to ensure that women are free to engage in any political activities.

A further important provision to the electoral legislation is the schedule which empowers the IEC to add provisions to the Code.

Devaki Jain addressed the Committee generally on women and electoral reform, with reference to India :

Women’s vote can translate into women’s assertion of collective power and self-strength, can improve the quality of representation and can transform competitive politics into co-operative politics.

The success of the use of quota systems in India at the local government level has led to campaigning for the introduction of a quota at the national parliamentary level.

The experience has shown that women have gained confidence and actively participated in governance at the local level to the extent that they are now standing for the "open" seats which have not been reserved for women. The quota system in India is an interim measure which will only be utilised for 15 years, to ensure women’s participation and empower women to participate in political processes.

Women often experience a lack of funds to fight elections. The state should enable candidates through grants to fight elections.

Ms Glenda Fick is a representative of a Gender and Elections group convened by the Electoral Institute of South Africa (EISA) and briefed the Committee on aspects of the research being undertaken by the reference group:

The research covers the pre, during and post elections stages and focuses on women as candidates, as voters and as policy makers in electoral structures.

The research will examine why gender in relation to elections, develop gender checklists for free and fair elections (such as codes of conduct) and consider which electoral systems are the most beneficial to women. A new electoral system can be put into place after the 1999 elections.

There are currently a number of conferences being hosted on gender and the elections

A paper has been developed by Shireen Hassim on the gender implications of bar-coded ID’s.

Mirjam van Donk from the Gender Advocacy Programme briefed the Committee on the desirability of increasing women’s representation as candidates at local government level:

Currently only 18% of Local Government seats are filled by women. The Committee was advised that comparative international research and statistics from previous elections indicates that systems with proportional representation (PR) better facilitate women’s election to office. The representation of women is almost twice as high under a PR system.

Research has shown that women are less likely to be put up by parties as candidates. Women are regarded as liabilities. Women are less likely to put themselves up for elections and to be elected.

The Municipal Structures Bill provides for a an electoral system, with a 60% ward component and a 40% proportional representation component.

In respect of the proportional representation component, the Municipal Structures Bill provides that parties should seek to ensure that fifty percent of candidates on party lists are women and that women and men are evenly distributed through the list. The question was raised whether this provision could be amended to place a positive, mandatory obligation on parties to ensure representivity of women.

The Bill does not address gender representivity in relation to the ward system. Even if all parties adhere to the provisions in respect of the proportional representation component, women will still be underrepresented at Local government level, given the weighting of the two systems.

It was suggested that the Bill should address representation of women in ward committees by for example providing that the composition of the ward committees should be representative of the community and allow for equal and fair representation of women and ensuring that women are trained and support provided so that they stand as candidates for ward seats.

The department of Constitutional Development could be more active in providing training opportunities and capacity building for women candidates.

As a result of the advocacy done by GAP and other organisations certain amendments were effected to the legislation:

The electoral system was amended. It is now has a 50% Proportional Representation component and a 50 % ward component. This represents a victory for women as the PR system facilitates women’s representation.

Where ward committees are established, which make recommendations to the ward councillor, rules must be draw up to regulate the procedure to elect members of a ward committee, taking into account the need for women to be equitably represented in a ward committee.

Jomo Khasu briefed the Committee on funding as a mechanism to increase women’s representation:

It was suggested to the Committee that one of the ways in which to increase women’s participation as candidates in elections is to financially reward gender representation within parties. This aspect was also highlighted in the Committee’s Annual Report of 1996/7.

The Public Funding of Represented Political Parties Act does not provide funding for election campaigns, it allows for funding of represented political parties.

The legislation provides that every political party is entitled to be allocated moneys from the Fund for any financial year that it is represented. The funds are to be used for any purposes compatible with its functioning as a political party in a modern democracy.

The allocations are made in accordance with a prescribed formula based on proportionality and the principle of equity amongst others taking into account a fixed threshold or a weighted scale of representation. The Committee was advised that rules or regulations have been finalised which provide the formula to determine the allocation.

The Act and the regulations do not provide for allocations to take into account the representation of women as factor in determining funding allocations.

It was suggested that the formula as set out in the regulations could build in gender considerations by linking funding of parties to the notion of equity.

Concern was also raised at the meeting that women’s participation in elections is often hampered by lack of funding for campaigning. At present there is no legislation which provides for such funding.

Electoral Institute of South Africa (EISA) conference : Putting Women in Power: Free and Fair Elections 1999

The Committee sent a member of the Committee, Ms K. Mothoagae and the Committee researcher, Coriaan de Villiers to attend a conference on 23 February 1999 hosted by EISA entitled "Putting Women in Power: Free and fair Elections 1999."

A brief summary of the conference proceedings is set out below. Various of the inputs drew on papers which were prepared for and can be purchased from EISA.

Part One: Towards Free and Fair Elections

Why is it important to consider "gender" in the South African Electoral context? (Sheila Meintjies, University of Witwatersrand)

The speaker introduced the discussion by suggesting that women should be considered as a separate political category because of the universal subordination of women as well as the emancipatory potential of women’s equality for society as a whole. Women share a set of social interests as well as biological and social roles. Although women have a diversity of interests all those interests need representation. Women as a group are politically powerless compared to men.

A further key aspect in relation to women’s power in decision making is allocation of resources. Although many women came into Parliament in 1994 participation is hampered by the constraints of the "male world" and discourse. There are various historical arguments as to why women should not participate in the political sphere. The nature argument suggests that women have less capacity to reason than men and that men and women reason differently. Women are seen as mothers and nurturers. When women started entering the political arena post the second world war, their entry retained the sexual division of labour, in that the areas assigned to women were those understood as "women’s issues" such as welfare. Women are still seen to represent women’s interests whereas men are seen to represent everyone.

The Electoral System and Representation of Women (Dr Andrew Reynolds, University of Notre Dame, USA)

There are many barriers to women’s representation. These include socio, cultural and economic barriers and the religious orientation of the state. The political culture has an impact on representation, for example in South Africa the political culture of the ANC has contributed to the large number of women Members of Parliament. In countries where there are many fragmented parties, women’s representation tends to be lower. Representation is higher where there is a party with a comfortable majority that has "safe" seats.

The electoral system also has an impact on women’s representation because of the way in which it structures the competition. A system of proportional representation (PR) with a closed list provides the best opportunity for women’s representation. The disadvantage of such a system is the lack of accountability within a geographical area.

The South African electoral system may change after the 1999 elections. Two main remedies were suggested by the speaker. One possibility is to retain a PR system but to introduce smaller voting districts. A further possibility is to introduce a system whereby half the seats are allocated according to PR and the other half of the seats on a single member basis.

Any reduction in the size of voting districts is likely to impact negatively on women’s representation, as parties will have a reduced number of "safe" seats. The speaker suggested that there may however be other sound reasons to change the current electoral system.

There are further mechanisms which can be introduced to ensure women’s representation. One of the mechanisms is the use of the quota system. There are five countries which introduced a mandatory legislative quota. Four countries reserve seats for women. The trend is however not to introduce quotas through legislation. In approximately forty countries quota’s have been introduced by political parties. This mechanism often has a knock on effect, once one party in a system introduces it, others often follow suit.

A Mechanism to Ensure Free and Fair Elections in 1999: A "Gendered" Checklist (Ms Glenda Fick, EISA)

The speaker introduced a draft gender checklist for free and fair elections. A copy of the checklist is annexed as "E "

Unfortunately there was not sufficient time for detailed comments on the draft document. Interested parties were invited to submit comments to EISA for incorporation in the document which could then be finalised and used to monitor the forthcoming elections.

The draft checklist covers a whole range of areas namely; citizenship, conducting elections, registration of voters, the right to vote, the right to stand for public office, voter education, the right to express political opinions, the right to freedom of association, assembly and movement, the right to campaign, secrecy of the ballot and review of electoral procedures or decisions.

The speaker outlined the various applicable sections of the constitution and the Electoral Act. It was stressed that the legislation, including the Section on the Role of Women in the Electoral Code of Conduct, gives effect to formal equality as opposed to substantive equality. The gendered checklist aims to unpack the various aspects of the electoral process to ensure women’s equal participation.

Part Two: Considerations for Free and Fair Elections in 1999

Empowerment and Participation of Rural Women (Representative from the Rural Women’s Movement)

Unfortunately the scheduled speaker was unable to attend. A representative however

made a few brief comments. The RWM had identified access to voting stations as a problem during the 1994 elections. Many women also felt that it was unnecessary to use civil servants during the elections; it was felt that as local, unemployed members of the community they could have played a role. A further problem experienced was in relation to information from voting officers. The RWM reported that most of its members had registered to vote.

The Political Participation of Women in Botswana (Ms Keboitse Machangana, Emang Basadi, Botswana)

The speaker provided background to the organisation, Emang Basadi, which means "Stand Up Women." The organisation was originally formed in 1986 to assert women’s legal rights. It now includes a political education project which addresses many issues around women’s representation and participation in politics. Currently there are 4 women MP’s out of a total of 44 at the national level.

The speaker introduced a manifesto which was used in Botswana to call upon political leaders to address various outlined women’s issues, failing which women would withhold their vote. One aspect of the manifesto was calling upon the President to appoint women within the category of appointments which can be made at the discretion of the president. This was successful.

The political education programme has various components including women as decision-makers and voter education. The organisation has printed a step by step guide on running an election campaign. Programmes are also run together with political parties and prospective women candidates.

Representation: Empowering Women Candidates (Ms Mirjam van Donk, Gender Advocacy Programme)

There are many obstacles which women face on the road to political leadership which were outlined by the speaker. Political obstacles include:

party bias towards male candidates in the nomination process and in selection criteria,

double standards

women as vote catchers yet political liabilities

under-representation in executive decisions

limited financial support

the masculine model of political life

Other obstacles include women’s socio-economic status; there is a close link between the lack of women’s participation, poverty and unemployment.

Taking responsibility to ensure women’s representation includes:

Political parties should ensure that women are represented throughout the party lists, should review nomination and selection criteria, place women in executive positions and should present alternative models of politics.

The State should ensure that the electoral system favours women’s representation, should consider corrective legislative measures, should uplift the socio-economic position of women and should consider rendering financial support to parties conditional on women’s representation.

Women’s organisations can pressurise political parties, build networks and alliances, lobby the media, and provide capacity building and empowerment.

The media can play a role in the positive portrayal of women in leadership.

Political Accountability and Women as a Constituency (Ms Shireen Hassim, University of Witwatersrand)

Although women do not form a single political constituency, there are moments in history when women speak with one voice. There are two types of accountability. Horizontal accountability occurs where agencies are set up to hold government accountable. Examples of such agencies are the Commission on Gender Equality, the Human Rights Commission and the Constitutional Court. Vertical accountability refers to the accountability of political representatives to the electorate who elected them.

Under the current electoral system in South Africa accountability is at the party level as opposed to a constituency based system. Within parties there should be accountability to ensure that space is created for women to interrogate their own platforms.

There are often competing claims of who is speaking on behalf of a constituency. Within parliament women MP’s often challenge each other in healthy political contestation.

The Committee calls upon all political parties and other role-players to ensure women’s active participation in the 1999 national elections, municipal elections and more broadly in the political life of the country.