Office on the Status of Women Annual Report 2006/7

Meeting report

JOINT MONITORING COMMITTEE ON IMPROVEMENT OF QUALITY OF LIFE AND STATUS OF WOMEN
2 November 2007
OFFICE ON THE STATUS OF WOMEN ANNUAL REPORT 2006/7

Chairperson: Ms M Morutoa (ANC)

Documents handed out:
Briefing for the Joint Monitoring Committee of the Quality of Life and Status of Women
Office on the Status of Women Annual Report July 2007 - October 2007
Joint Strategic Planning Session of Special Programmes (not presented)
Gender Equality and Women Empowerment Policy (not presented)
Concept Document for Gender Research Profile to National Gender Machinery (NGM)

Audio recording of meeting [Part 1][Part 2]

SUMMARY
The new Chief Director of the Office on the Status of Women explained that the Office had a completely new complement of staff since July 2007. There had been no orientation of the new staff by the old staff, and in effect all the workings of the Office had had to start from the beginning. She reported on what had been achieved between July and October 2007.

The budget allocation was not gender responsive and the Chief Financial Officer in the Office of the President openly admitted to guessing the amounts required by the Office on the Status of Women. The lack of support by Directors-General of government departments was also a cause of frustration and was adding to the challenges. The Committee suggested that as a way forward, the Directors-General should be called in and held accountable by the Committee.

The Committee was disappointed that they had not been invited to a stakeholders meeting on a Strategy Plan for the National Gender Machinery and that they had been allocated responsibilities without consultation. They also noted that they had not been informed of the Women’s Pension Fund developed by the Presidential Working Group on Women. A further presentation would be given at a later date.

MINUTES
Introductory Remarks
The Chairperson explained the reason for having the meeting so late in the year was due to unavoidable circumstances. This Committee had the responsibility of maintaining oversight over the Office on the Status of Women. The Committee was responsible for dealing with gender disparity, gender mainstreaming and ending violence against women and children. They were challenged in terms of implementation of gender mainstreaming. The Committee required an annual report, a strategy plan and the proper functioning the National Gender Machinery, of which the Committee was a participant.

Presentation of the Annual Report on the Period covered July – October 2007
Ms Mbangi Dsivhani (Chief Director: Office on the Status of Women) indicated that Ranji Reddy has been appointed as Director of the Office on the Status of Women. Since she had not received the exit report from the previous director and as she was not appointed during the drafting of the Annual Report 2005/06, she could not give a proper accounting of that report. However, the period since her tenure in March began, could be reported on. A situational analysis was done that identified gaps in its functioning. The major challenge was the dysfunctional nature of the National Gender Machinery (NGM) and the lack of information sharing between the OSW and other stakeholders.

The focus areas were the strengthening of the NGM, coordination of South Africa’s progress report on the implementations of resolutions where South Africa was a signatory, providing support to processes of strengthening women’s movements and women empowerment, participations in national commemoration events, support regional, sub-regional and international processes related to gender and women development, monitoring and evaluation, participation in important meetings to support activities that promotes gender equality and women empowerment and ensuring the smooth running of the OSW.

Based on the findings that the NGM was dysfunctional, a strategy planning session was conducted. The outcome was that a National Plan of Action was developed. The stakeholders, specifically the Joint Monitoring Committee on the Quality and Status of Women, was tasked with follow-up on the Plan, even though the Committee was not there and not invited.

The coordination and reporting obligations on the implementation of the resolutions of South Africa involved collecting information by coordinating with relevant departments in order to compile reports. The outcome was that few reports were submitted including the Southern African Development Community (SADC) report for 2007.

The OSW provided support to processes of strengthening women’s movements and women empowerment. The activities included the facilitation of the fifth annual meeting of the Presidential Working Group on Women (PWGW) and the forwarding of the synopsis of organisations represented at the PWGW as well as participating in gender mainstreaming and capacity building. The OSW co-hosted the National Women’s Day celebration 2007 with the Department of Arts and Culture, coordinated the Women’s Day Celebration at the Presidency and attended the International Rural Women’s day in Grabouw in Western Cape and Umdoni in Kwazulu-Natal. The Minister in the Office of the President, Mr Essop Pahad, had to search for funding in order to properly provide assistance.

Support was provided on for regional, sub-regional and international processes related to gender and women development. This meant that the OSW was involved in the draft Protocol on Gender and Development, it had presented in the Women’s Parliament, it had attended a high level round table on gender mainstreaming in the public service and was involved in several other initiatives. The OSW was vocal in its advocacy and in its condemnation of the sugar-cane killings. Several meetings were held with the deputy directors of the OSW and the Office on the Status of People with Disabilities (OSDP) with regard to monitoring and evaluation.

The linkages between the budget and the activities of the OSW were provided in order to properly illustrate its expenditure. The allocation of funds were found not to be gender responsive. The Chief Financial Officer in the Presidency, when questioned about the budget, stated that there was no representative from the OSW to request a budget, so numbers were randomly allocated. The total expenditure was R1.8 million from March 2007 until the present; their budget allocation was R1.1 million. The amount that remained for expenditure was R300 000 until March 2008. The lack of financial support was the biggest challenge, as it would be linked with all other issues.

Discussion
Ms J Semple (DA) commented that she understood the difficulties that the Chief Director experienced because of the disorganised state of the OSW. However, it was extraordinary that responsibilities for the Strategic Plan were allocated to the Committee without consultation. Although the apology for the lack of invitation to the Committee was accepted, it was an issue that should be addressed.

The Chairperson accepted the apology given, but she was disturbed by the fact that was such a strategy plan had been developed without the Committee’s input.

Ms Dsivhani apologised, once again, for her neglect in inviting the Committee to the meeting with the NGM. She added that the role and the importance of the Committee were clarified to the staff of the OSW. In future activities, there would be consultation with and inclusion of the Committee.

Ms Semple referred to the Women’s Day event and the fact that funds needed to be found. She wanted to know about the budget process.

The Chairperson referred the lack of funding with regard to the Women’s Day event and asked what was the policy within the OSW on budget allocation.

Ms Dsivhani replied that there was no allocation in the budget for the event and therefore the Minister had to convince the Chief Financial Officer to allocate funds.

Ms X Makasi (ANC) commented that the lack of coordination within the regional OSW was understandable as the national OSW was just as uncoordinated. She was concerned about the provinces and hoped that the national OSW would now function better.

Ms M Meruti (ANC) wanted an explanation on how the rural areas received communication and assistance from the OSW.

Ms Dsivhani replied that the OSW had been to quite a few rural areas doing capacity building and had made provinces accountable to issues of gender mainstreaming. Hence the high-level round table with the Department of Public Service and Administration and the Office of the Presidency that included two Ministers, although none of the Directors-General had attended. Directors-General had to be held accountable, as it was part of their mandate that gender issues were focussed on. The lack of support from the Director-Generals was frustrating. In the provinces the person heading the OSW was an assistant director and that had to be upgraded to the director in order for them to better manage their responsibilities and have decision making powers, however the Directors-General have yet to sign off on the motivational letters. They had to be upgraded to be part of the national strategy. She added that there was a partnership with the South African Local Government Association (SALGA).

Ms M Meruti (ANC) found the lack of continuity strange - that all the staff exited the OSW simultaneously.

Ms Dsivhani replied that the staff members resigned one after each other within two months.

Ms Meruti referred to the language issue where it was found that the language of people from different ethnicities was neglected.

Ms Dsivhani replied that the diversity of the languages of the staff ranging from Sepedi to Indian, addressed the issue of languages.

Ms Meruti referred to the appointed person for the gender focal point (GFP) in each department and said that that training of these officers was overdue. She added that the GFP should be in a decision-making position in the department in order to ensure proper implementation.

Ms Dsivhani responded that it was accurate that training was overdue but it had started.

The Chairperson asked about the working group within the Presidency and their function.

Ms Dsivhani replied that the President interacted with various working groups. This group has its own focal point around the province and they were there for all women and together they had formed a group. They would do a presentation that would touch on their core functions, economic and social issues. They had also developed the Women’s Pension Fund.

The Chairperson commented that the Committee were not informed of the Women’s Pension Fund.

Ms Semple agreed with the Chairperson and suggested that the channels of communication be opened.

Ms Dsivhani replied that this situation was part of holding the highest power accountable. The Committee could use the OSW as a vehicle to disseminate information.

Ms Semple expressed her concern with the lack of adequate funding and was even more disconcerted as the Sixteen Days of activism was approaching and the OSW was the facilitator of the event.

Ms Makhasi said that the frustration of the provincial offices was understood if the national OSW lacked sufficient funding.

Ms Meruti added that it was the Director-General, the Chief Financial Officer and the Chief Operating Officer that should be held accountable to the Committee.

Ms Makasi suggested that as a way forward, the Directors-General be held accountable before the Committee.

The Chairperson suggested that a special meeting take place that included the Director-General, Chief Financial Officer and the Chief Operating Officer.

The Chairperson adjourned the meeting.